Blood Runs Red
by Bsnowflake
Summary: Sora is gay. Tired of being tortured in his home town, he decides to spend his summer with his cousins. What he finds there is a whole different story.
1. Departure

Blood Runs Red

Chapter 1: Departure

A/n: nothing really important to tell you here. I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Sora, but the story is mine :D I hope you enjoy!

*12/30/11- going through the chapters and fixing grammar mistakes, re-wording things, adding sentences and taking out some that do not need to be there. Just trying to clean things up before I continue with the story. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about it!*

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Tears welled in my eyes as a foot connected to my stomach, the air rushed out of me. I coughed and gasped for air as one of them pulled me up by the shirt. I was thrown up against a locker, hard. My back started to sting, as the pain ran through my body. "Faggot!" I heard one of them say. Looking up, I quickly flinched as a balled up fist rushed towards my face.

It wasn't always like this.

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It all started when I was 10. That was when I found out I was gay. It was no big thing back then. I told my oldest and best friend, Kairi, and no one else. She of course accepted me. But I didn't officially come out until I had turned 18. That was about three months ago.

Before I came out I was part of the popular crowd. I didn't play any sports, but I somehow managed to stay pretty high on the social ladder. Weird, seeing how I was pretty shy. It might have been because all my old friends, Kairi, Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie, were in that crowd. I'm not sure.

But when I came out three months ago, it was like all hell broke loose. I told my parents, Kairi was there, for mutual support of course. I sat them down in the living room and with a nod from Kairi, I told them. My mom took it alright, she said as long as I was happy so was she. My dad on the other hand couldn't accept it. He started to yell at me, saying he wasn't going to have a homo as a son. As tears rolled down my cheeks, Kairi tried to defend me, saying that as my father he should accept me for what I was. That just upset him further. He jumped up off the couch and came towards me. I knew what was going to happen. My mother put a hand on his shoulder, trying to stop him, but he turned around and slapped her across the face. She yelled in pain as she hit the couch and fell to the floor crying. Kairi screamed as he pushed her from in front of me. She stumbled to the wall, using it for support, and watched in horror as my father reached me and...well...you get the picture.

The next day I went to school with a black eye and some bruises. Teachers asked questions, like they always do, but I blew them off with a phony story about a baseball. Teachers will believe anything it seems. At school everything was normal. I was still expected to be the happy go lucky Sora, but it was hard to slap a smile on my face when I was so torn up inside. My father barely looked at me anymore. The only time he did was after a few beers, when he was beating me. My mother cried all the time now, not because her son was gay, but because the two people that she loved most in this world hated each other. I spent a lot of time away from home. I would stay at Kairi's house until nine or ten. Then I would walk the streets until I thought my father was asleep or passed out. Sometimes it would work, other times he would stay up for me.

Somehow word got out. About three weeks after I came out to my parents to be exact. I went to school one day, and as I walked through the halls I knew something was off. Everyone I passed instantly got quiet, except for the hushed whispers and the turning of the heads as I walked by. When I reached my locker Kairi was there. I looked at her, her face red, her eyes watery. She wanted to cry, and I knew then what was going on. "They know," she whispered to me.

Ever since then my life has been a living hell.

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Blood rolled down my chin as I fell against the lockers. "Shit, someone's coming." One of them whispered. I looked up and watched through squinted eyes as the tallest one out of the group kicked me again. He bent down as I rolled up into a ball, shaking, "We don't need faggots like you living in this town." He said. Then he turned around and ran down the hallway, out the double doors with his friends.

"Sora!", Kairi called down the hallway. I grabbed the lockers and pulled myself up. "Sora," she said again, gasping for air, "Those bastards." "It's fine" I said. She was silent for a moment. I ran my hands through my spikey locks and licked my lips. Great, they busted my bottom lip, not surprising, I've had worse. I sucked on my bottom lip as the blood flowed out. Looking over at Kairi, who had been really quiet, I noticed her appearance. Her face was red, and her eyes were watery. She was slightly shaking, from anger I presumed.

Life for Kairi had gotten a lot worse too. I was always at her house crying into her shoulder and she was always backing me up at school. But she had sorta lost her charm. No one wanted to hang out with a gay's best friend. People stopped talking to her and now I was her only real friend. Me coming out had ruined Kairi's life and I felt terrible for that. Then it was settled.

"I'm getting out of here." I decided.

:.

There was a loud 'thud' as I pulled out another drawer and grabbed everything in that drawer and shoved it into my bag. "Sora," Kairi pleaded, "You don't have to leave." I ignored her as I zipped up my bag. "Sora." she said again. Then I turned around and opened my closet door. Pulling out my shoes and everything that was hanging in the closet I then shoved it into the suitcase on the floor. Then I was off to the bathroom where I proceeded to continue packing. Kairi quickly followed behind me. "Sora." she said again. My body winced at how she said it. She sounded so sad, so lonely. I looked down, but only for a second and then grabbed my toothbrush and other essentials and threw them into the suitcase too. I hurried over to my computer, shut it down, and put it into its bag. Glancing up to see Kairi sitting on the bed, her face hidden behind her bright, red hair, I frowned.

I placed the bag next to the suitcase and sat down next to her. She didn't say anything, nor did she look up. Quickly I sighed and put my arm around her. At first she was tense, but then she relaxed and turned into my chest and cried. Kairi wasn't a crier, she was a fighter. She might have been shy and liked the color pink, but I had only seen her cry two times. The first time was when her father died when she was 7 and the second time was when her pet dog, Sam, ran away. She loved that dog.

We just sat like that for a while as she cried into my chest. I felt tears on the edge of my eyes, ready to spill over, but I held them in. It was my turn to be strong. After a few minutes she pulled away. She looked at me, her eyes blood red from crying. "You can't leave." she said. Again I sighed and closed my eyes. "Kairi, I'm sorry, but I can't take this shit anymore." I said. "But Sora," she started, "Where are you going to go?" "To my cousins' house. My mom is taking me to the airport tomorrow. We have already discussed it" I explained. That didn't set right with her and she flew off the bed. "And you didn't tell me! You waited until the day before to mention this to me!" Kairi was mad. Beyond mad, pissed even.

Slowly I rose to my feet. "Kairi," I said softly, "I'm not doing this to hurt you. I promise." I quickly grabbed her hands and held them in mine. "Then why are you leaving me?" she asked before the tears started again. "Because, I'm not just hurting myself by staying here, but I'm also hurting you." At first she looked startled, but then her eyes shifted and I knew she understood. "Kairi, I'm sorry. You are truly my best friend ever." She giggled as I said it. I smiled, happy and relieved that she wasn't crying anymore. I let go of her hands and she hugged me. Planting a kiss on the top of her head, I inhaled her wonderful scent. She smelled like cherry blossoms and oranges all swept to together as one. Weird.

Kairi pulled away and sniffled making me smile. "So," she said in a bossy manner, she seemed to be back to normal, "What time are you leaving tomorrow?" "Around eight." I answered. "Alrighty then. Can your mom pick me up on her way to the airport? I wanna wave good bye to my best friend. I mean we are never going to see each other again! "she said in a sarcastic tone, sweeping her hand across her forehead as if she were about to faint. Kairi was always one for over dramatizing the situation. I laughed. "It won't be forever! Just the summer. I promise. And I'm taking my lab top so we can chat. And of course my mom will pick you up. She loves you." We both laughed at my comment. My mom truly did love Kairi, she always said that she wanted a daughter.

I walked Kairi home that night, but didn't stay for dinner like I usually did. There were still a few more things that needed to be packed and I defiantly needed to get to sleep if I planned on getting up. Walking home slowly, I could feel the cool breeze hit my face. It was the beginning of May and summer was approaching our small Twilight Town. I smiled. Hopefully my decision to leave for the summer would be a good one.

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I lied awake for hours trying to get to sleep, but couldn't. I was nervous. Never ever had I done anything like this before in my life. Never been on an airplane or even out of the town by myself, let alone to an island people barely knew the name of. Stop thinking like that! Think about something else. Someone else. Kairi. I frowned in the darkness. Leaving behind my best friend would be the hardest part. But it was for the best, right?

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My head was pounding when I woke up to the alarm clock going off. Grumpily I rolled over and turned it off. I looked at the clock. Blurry. I rubbed my eyes and then strained to read the time. 6:01. Time to get moving. Quickly I hauled myself out of the bed and grabbed my clothes, tip toed into the bathroom, turned on the hot water and undressed fast. "Why was it so cold in here?" was all I could think as I hopped into the shower, almost falling, and began bathing. The water was nice and warm and woke me up pretty fast. I squeezed some shampoo into my hand and ran it through my hair, massaging it into my scalp. When I thought it was well dispersed throughout my hair I rinsed and repeated with conditioner.

Satisfied, I smiled as I turned off the water and got out of the shower. I dried myself off and put on my clothes: a pair of brown khakis and a white shirt with a black eagle on the bottom of it, my favorite shirt by the way. Quietly, I opened the door and peeked out into the hallway. The lights in my mom's room were on. Good sign, so I ran the towel through my hair trying to dry it as I walked down the hallway into the living room. I scanned the living room only to find my father passed out on the couch, not surprising in the least. Rolling my eyes, I entered my mom's room and closed the door. "Good morning dear." she said in a high, happy tune but her voice didn't match her face. Her face was pale and thin and bags hung dark and deep under her eyes. This was only another reminder of why I needed to leave. "Good morning." I said back.

When I was done blow drying and re-spiking my hair, we were ready to go. I grabbed my things and loaded them into the car. Walking back into the house to tell my mom I was ready, I realized my father had woken up. He sat on the couch and stared at the TV. Trying to avoid him at all costs I quickly dashed back into my mom's room. "I'm ready to go, if you are." I spat out. She looked at me and nodded. We both walked into the living room as she shut her bed room door. "I'll be back around noon." she said to my father. He didn't even acknowledge her or me. We stepped out of the house and walked down to the car.

"Why do you put up with him?" I asked. "Because I love him" was her only response and I had nothing to say to that. After that I was quiet until we reached Kairi's house. We honked the horn and giggled like we always do. Kairi hated when we did that, she said we were rushing her and perfection took time. Drama queen. She stepped out of the house in a cute little pink dress with white flip flops and a pink matching purse. She looked adorable, hell she always did. She hopped into the back seat, as well as I, and we hugged. My mom pulled out of her driveway and headed towards the airport.

It was a long drive and I remember falling asleep once, only to wake up with my head in Kairi's lap, her thin fingers running through my hair. It felt good, but a pang ran through my heart. I was still leaving her and I was still hurting her by leaving. But it was my only option and she, as well as I, knew that. When we arrived at the airport, it was chaotic. People everywhere, so much noise, so many lights, and airplanes. Big airplanes. We walked together to the little desk, where my mom started talking to the lady about my ticket. I jumped as Kairi took hold of my hand. My palms were all sweaty and I felt my stomach ring out in pain. Nervous or was that hunger?

"Sora." Kairi said sweetly. I looked into her face. Her eyes were all watery again and I knew she wanted to cry, but she didn't. She looked down at our conjoined hands and put her other hand on top of ours and said, "I have something I want to give you." Her hands pulled away and she began to rummage through her purse. I watched as my mom paid for my flight and was handed the ticket. Kairi's small noise of happiness drew my attention back to her. Whatever it was she was looking for, she had found it. She closed her hand around it and threw her balled fist into my face causing me to flinch, only to open my eyes to see a bracelet hanging between her two fingers. "I found this a few days ago, remember it?"

Of course I remembered it. It was the first thing I ever gave Kairi. All it said was 'bffnmwh'. It stood for ' best friends forever no matter what happens'. I smiled at it. She placed it into my hand as we walked to the metal detectors. Kairi smiled at me as I slipped the tight bracelet on my wrist. "I'll never take it off." I yelled as I passed through the metal detectors. My mom blew me a kiss as my bags were checked. I waved one last time and entered the corridor. Butterflies immediately took their place in my stomach as I handed the lady my ticket, Flight 13, and boarded the plane. I was seated into seat 211, a window seat, next to a nice old couple. Frowning, I slipped the blinds down. I popped in my ear phones and turned on my iPod. 'Simple and Clean' was playing and I fell into a restless sleep. All I could dream about was Kairi and oranges.

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A/n: Well this is the first chapter. It wasn't too good. It seemed sort of rushed to me, but oh well. I'm not sure how long this story will be, or if I even finish it. But if I get a lot of reviews telling me they like it, I might. I will defiantly upload the second chapter no earlier by the end of today. I got to get the story out of my head. XD By the way there is no story line, just whatever pops into my head ;)

If there are any questions just send me a message. :)

p.s. those little ':.' are just to break the story up so that you don't get jumbled or confused.


	2. Caught like a Mouse in a Trap

Blood Runs Red

Chapter 2: Caught like a Mouse in a Trap

A/n: well I got a lot of positive feedback from the 1st chapter, which made me very happy :) and I decided to update with the new chapter. Again I don't own any of the characters.

*5/22/2012. Finally I can get back to cleaning this story up. Finished re-doing this chapter moving onto the next one soon. Promise, I will finish this, even if it kills me.*

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I woke up to someone tapping me rapidly on the shoulder. I opened my eyes to see the little old lady, her small, fragile finger poking me. I blinked a few times, while her mouth moved, but no sound came out. At first I thought that she was singing, but then I realized my iPod was still on so I quickly paused it and said, "Excuse me?" I had been taught manners, yes. She cleared her throat and spoke again, "It's time to get off the plane young man." Her voice was tiny and fragile too. I smiled and nodded which only made the older woman smile too.

I walked slowly out of the plane, following the old couple. Where do I go now? I stopped and scanned the area. This airport was a lot smaller than Twilight Town's, but still just as busy. A sign to my right flashed red, catching my attention. I looked up to read the flashing letters. ' Pick up baggage here for the following flights: Flight 18, Flight 119, Flight 37, Flight 201, and Flight 13' There I am. Quickly I walked over to the multiple conveyor belts. It wasn't a long wait until my bags came around the corner but I had to scramble to gather them all before they could be swept down the belt and away from me.

This was a lot harder than before. The bags seemed heavier. Oh yeah, my mom had carried one for me back in Twilight Town. I struggled to wheel the suitcase and carry two other bags as well, but finally I managed to make it outside. Instantly the smell of salt water hit my nostrils and for a second I was gone. I closed my eyes and smiled. Inhaled deeply, holding it for a second, and then exhaled it. Now back to finding my ride. Searching for my ride was hectic. I looked around for a few minutes, but all I saw was people. Cars. People getting into cars. People getting out of cars. Cars driving away. Cars stopping. This is nerve racking!

What if they weren't here? What if they forgot? What am I going to do? I made a sound of displeasure. A small chuckle came from my right. My head whirled around to meet a tall figure dressed in black. "Thought I forgot about you?" A grin spread itself across his face. I smiled "Cloud!" He chuckled again and then proceeded to help me with my bags. "I didn't know you were picking me up." I said. Cloud was my favorite cousin. Always cool and collected, but was always there when you needed him. "Yeah, mom's busy at work." Their mom was head of a small oil company, passed down through the family, so they had money. My mom never took any interest in the family business, but we always got a small profit from it.

We threw the bags and suitcase into the trunk and loaded into the small car. Cloud might've had money, but he sure didn't like to ride in style. Or was this his mom's car? Who knew. He turned on the radio to some rock channel, but I didn't listen to it. Instead I looked out the car window at the ocean as we went over the bridge into Traverse Town. "Missed it didn't you." Cloud stated. Nodding was all I could do and we fell into a silence. The good thing about Cloud was he was quiet. I was able to enjoy the ride into the town.

A huge sign greeted us when we got off the bridge. 'Welcome to Destiny Islands. Home of the Paupu fruit.' I giggled at the corny sign. Destiny Islands was nothing more than a tourist attraction. That's how it made its money. Oil was founded her a few centuries ago and the people just stayed. Traverse Town was just a little strip of shops, restaurants, a mall, and a movie theater. Further on through the town you came to the suburbs and houses. Like I said earlier, my cousins were loaded so they owned a big condo on the beach. Lucky, right? We drove through the town pretty fast and we were making it to the beach front property. Kids lined the streets and I felt all warm and fuzzy inside. I missed living here.

That's right; I used to live on this wonderful speck of land. Everyone knew everyone and I was close to family, but when my father's job moved him overseas, we went with him. The only good that came out of it was meeting Kairi. I frowned. Speaking of Kairi, I hope she is ok. The car slowly ascended up the hill to the condo. It looked the same as it did 15 years ago. On top of the hill sat a two story condo with huge glass windows that lined the first floor. A small porch wrapped around the base of the house and connected to the garage. The car slid in easily and came to a smooth stop. For a moment everything was quiet and neither of us moved.

"Ready?" Cloud asked. I nodded "Yeah." We got out of the car and he grabbed the bags, while I grabbed the suitcase. He unlocked the garage door and we entered the house together. At first it was calm and serene. I heard a radio up stairs playing...Lady Gaga? I strolled through the walkway into the living room where everything was nice and neat. There the glass windows gave me a full view of the beach down below. I stood gaping out the big windows at the beach, before I heard a noise from behind me. I turned around to see a boy my age come down the stairs. He looked at me and smiled. He had dirty blonde hair and deep blue eyes, which matched mine. "Roxas," he yelled, "he's here." Ventus. He stepped off the stairs and came closer to me. Ventus wore a white surfing shirt and some dark purple swim trunks.

I flinched as there was a loud 'bang' upstairs. Footsteps rounded the stairs and flew down them. A boy with dirty blonde hair came rushing down the stairs. I could barely say Roxas before he tackled me to the floor. "Sora," he screamed, it sounded like something straight out of a horror film," you're back!" Roxas loved me more than life itself. When I lived here, we were near inseparable. He gave me a nuggie, which messed up my hair of course, but I just decided to live with it. "Alright, get off him. Let him breathe." Cloud said. We all laughed as Roxas peeled himself off me and helped me up.

Well these were my cousins. Cloud, 21, still lived at home and I can see why. This place was amazing. Roxas and Ventus, twins by the way, both a year younger than me. I smiled at them. Life seemed to be looking up for me. "Your room is upstairs, all the way down the hallway. It's a master suite so you gotta a bathroom." Ventus said quietly. Ventus was the shy twin and Roxas was the loud mouthed one, can you tell? "Awesome!" I yelled. We all laughed again as I battled with the suitcase upstairs.

I made it to the room, with a little help from Cloud, and was amazed. The room was gigantic! It even had its own balcony. "Awesome!" I said again, forever on repeat. Cloud chuckled as he walked out of the room. Roxas and Ventus entered together. Weird. I turned around and finally studied Roxas's outfit. He wore a black surfing shirt and checkered swim trunks. "Where you guys going to the beach?" I asked. "Nope." Ventus replied. "Actually we were waiting for you." Roxas said. "Ok..." I said, a little curious. "We wanted to go to the beach together!" They said in unison. I was a little put off by the act, but grinned anyways.

"Alright! To the beach it is then." I said as Roxas and Ventus jumped up and down. I laughed at their childish act, but underneath the laugh was nervousness. They were up to something and I didn't know what. They both giggled and ran out of the room. I changed quickly and grabbed my sun glasses. I ran down to the living room where I found Ventus sitting on the couch. I sat down next to him and watched as Roxas talked to someone on the phone. I wonder who he was talking to.

I looked over at Ventus, who looked slightly troubled. "Ventus, what's wrong?" I asked. He looked at me and then back to his hands. "Nothing." He mumbled as he got up off the couch. I was just about to ask him again when Roxas came into the living room. "Alright! Time to go!" Roxas said as he slapped his hands together. I was still slightly troubled by Ventus's behavior, but pushed it to the side as we excited the house. We began our descent to the beach. It was hot, but not humid, like in Twilight Town. Here it took no more than 5 minutes to get to the beach, when in Twilight Town it took 2 to 3 hours, depending on traffic.

I sighed deeply as my feet hit the sand. I squished it between my toes, the sand slightly burning my feet. I didn't care though. It felt wonderful. My burrowed towel fluttered to the ground and I ran for the water. I smiled as I took my first step into the water. It was great, not to hot or too cold. Just plain perfect. I turned around to see Ventus and Roxas grinning at me. Then I turned back around and ran in.

:.

When we finally hauled ourselves out of the water it felt like my arms and legs were about to fall off. I hadn't been swimming in long time, ok. And to top it off my busted lip was pulsating from the salt water. I crawled over to my towel and plopped down. I was officially tired. I threw my arm over my eyes trying to block the sun, and panted. "Hey!" I heard from a distance. Slowly I rose into a sitting position when Roxas started to snicker. I studied him for a moment and then understood all too soon. Roxas had always tried to pressure me into meeting his friends, but like I said earlier, I'm deathly shy. I always avoided the issue, but I now found myself caught like a mouse in a trap. I should have known something like this would happen. I just wanted to spend my summer relaxing with my family and not worrying what other people thought of me. And here I was about to be thrown in a social situation.

Ventus sat down next to me. "Sorry." he whispered. I knew this wasn't his idea, it was all Roxas. He would so get it later. "Sora, meet my friends." Roxas said proudly. I slowly, cowardly looked up at the small group of people. They all looked at me. Great, I was now the center of attention already. First day here, and it was all about me. Hip Hip Hooray. I felt Ventus rise and I followed his actions. "Sora, meet Axel, Terra, and Riku." Axel was the tall, limber one out of the group. He had fire, red hair that hung off his head in layers and wore nothing but some swim trunks with flames on it. So practical. I almost missed the tiny tear drop tattoos that laid underneath his teal eyes. He smiled at me like the Cheshire cat "Yo, Sora! I've heard a lot about you!" he said loudly. I flinched.

The next guy, Terra, I think, was around the same height as Axel and had shorter, brown hair. He had serious blue eyes, but that was the only thing that really stuck out about him. He wore a baby blue T-shirt and dark blue swimming trunks. Someone liked the color blue. The last guy was Riku, slightly shorter than the other two men, but was very well built. Hell they all were. He had amazing silver hair and piercing, sea green eyes. He had a small grin on his face, which seemed to make my knees a little weak and wore a skin tight, gray shirt, which showed off his abs, just saying, and green swim trunks. They all had been swimming apparently. Lies.

"Hi." I said shyly as I looked down at my feet. I liked the pattern on this beach towel, very artistic "Sora." said a deep voice. I looked up and the brunette, Terra, threw his hand at me. For a moment, I was at a loss, then I quickly shook his hand and my arm returned to my side. Well, someone had manners, I think. I looked at Riku, waiting for his greeting, but all he did was nod is head. That was easy, I think I'm going to like this one. "Well," Roxas said, "it's getting late, we should head back, but you guys should head over for dinner." I almost fell over when he said that. He was just trying to torture me wasn't he? "Sure!" Axel answered, the other two just nodded and smiled.

This was going to be a long summer.

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A/n: poor Sora :) well there you have it. Tell me if you like!

And please message me if there are any errors. Also message me if you have any questions! :D


	3. Always the center of attention

Blood Runs Red

Chapter 3: Always the center of attention

A/n: Sora is a little moody in my story. Roxas is sort of bi-polar.

I love the positive feedback I'm getting from you guys. It makes me feel so good. I don't own any of the character's except Sophie or Yahoo(lol)

*5/22/12. Finished with the 3rd chapter! By next week I should be able to start working on the next chapter. I really think that I help stream this chapter together more.*

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By the time we got back to the house, I was furious. "What the hell were you thinking Roxas!" I yelled. Roxas, who was walking ahead of me stopped and turned around. He looked quite surprised.

"What?" he asked innocently.

"Why the hell would you invite people I don't even know to have dinner with us? You know I hate meeting new people."

"What? Why the hell are you blowing this out of proportion? And those people 'you' don't even know happen to be my friends!" Maybe I was blowing this out of proportion, but still Roxas knew that I hated meeting new people. He knew that I had trouble with strangers just like how he had problems with the dark. He knew that I was socially awkward that I had bad anxiety. He knew all of this and it burned me up inside when he did it anyways.

"So? You can handle not spending every second with them." Roxas and Ventus had twin looks of shock plastered on their faces. Not surprising.

"You're horrible. I don't even know why we agreed to let you stay with us. You've changed." Roxas hissed.

"Sora." Ventus whispered, concerned.

"How dare you!" he spat. "If you had it your way I wouldn't see them at all this summer. No way, Axel means too much to me for that. He's been here for me way more than you have Sora. I'm not gonna leave them, like you left me!" Roxas yelled, his face red, eyes closed, and fists clenched. He then turned back around and ran into the house. There was silence except for the slamming of the back door. My heart ached. He still blamed me.

A few years ago, when I was thirteen, maybe fourteen, I came to spend the summer with them. We were still settling in at Twilight Town and my mom thought it would be best to visit before school started. So we all went to a fair that was touring different parts of the island. Some small fair with lots of clowns, I remember vaguely. We were together all night and I don't know how but we got separated. Luckily I found Ventus and Cloud. Roxas hadn't. We panicked. We searched for hours and finally found him the next morning, lying under the dock. He had been drugged, beaten, and raped.

For a long time, I blamed myself for what had happened. I had been holding his hand all night, but I let go, for what seemed like only a few seconds, and he was gone. The year after that was hard for Roxas. He didn't speak. He had to go to a psychologist. He had nightmares frequently. He was terrified to be alone, to be in the dark. But I thought he was...better. I knew that he would never just fully recover from something like that. Nobody usually did. And here I was being a bastard to him. I sighed.

"Sora." Ventus whispered again. He drew me out of my thoughts and I looked up at him. "He didn't mean what he said. He doesn't blame you, he's just mad. He's been a little strange lately. Don't worry about it; he'll get over it fast. He always does." At that Ventus went inside. I stood there for a minute, thinking. After I regained my composure I went inside too.

I was greeted to the wonderful scent of cooking. I closed my eyes and died. Not really, but it might have been nice if I had of. Stepping into the kitchen the scent instantly got stronger. My stomach rumbled and I had to put a hand on it to stop the noise. "Mmmm..." I hummed.

"Sora?"

My eyes opened and then I felt as if I was going to be suffocated as my aunt hugged me. "Aunt Sophie." I managed to say as she continued to squeeze me. Finally she pulled away, and I was allowed to breathe again. She rested her hands on my arms and told me how much I had grown and how much she missed me. I laughed, a little embarrassed, and told her how much I had missed her too, which was true. I did miss her, I missed them all.

She then returned to her cooking and I smiled. Sophie Strife. That was my aunt. Bubbly, loud, and talkative. She was short and plump, but not fat. She had bleach blonde hair, which was wrapped up in a bun. She had hazel eyes, that trait didn't seem to appear in any of her offspring. She bustled around the kitchen as she prepared our dinner. "What are we having?" I asked. She looked up at me, as if she forgot that I was there, and replied, "We were just going to have some sausage and rice, but Roxas just informed me that he has invited some friends over, so now we are having sausage with rice, broccoli with cheese, green beans, and fried tomatoes. And I'm making something special for dessert, but it's a secret!" I smiled again, but cringed on the inside.

I slowly walked out of the kitchen into the dining room, through the living room and up the stairs. I glanced down the hallway. To the left, all the way down, was the master suite. That was Aunt Sophie's room. A little up the hallway were two rooms opposite to each other. Roxas and Ventus's rooms. In front of me was the bathroom. To the right was Cloud's room and then a guest room. All the way down was the other master suite. That was the room I was currently residing in. I walked down the hallway and into 'my' room and shut the door sighing.

:.

I turned my lab top on and watched it load up as I rolled off the bed to grab the blow dryer off the dresser to blow dried my hair. Deciding not to do anything else to my hair and I left it a bundle of spikes. I ran my fingers through my hair and grinned. Having clean hair was the best feeling in the world, so of course I washed it after coming back from the beach. Saltwater tends to make my hair sticky and then hard. Blah! I climbed back onto the bed and opened my email and smiled. Kairi was currently logged on to yahoo. So of course I messaged her:

_Sora: Yo! Kai_

_Kairi: Sora! I miss you already!_

_Sora: Awww,I'm sorry! So what are you up to?_

_Kairi: Well right now I'm getting ready to go to the movies with Selphie at 8. You?_

_Sora: Selphie? I haven't talked to her in a long time. Cool! I went to the beach, I haven't been swimming in so long. Lol and then Roxas made me meet his friends and now they are coming over for dinner. :/_

_Kairi: Yeah, she just got back in town, so we're hanging out. Aww, that's great, you need to make some new friends anyways :P_

_Sora: I guess, but you know how I am around new people. I just don't want it to turn into the same thing I left home for. You know? And of course Roxas and I got into a fight about it and now he hates me."_

_Kairi: You'll be fine, believe in yourself. Not everybody is an asshole. And Sora apologize! You big meanie head._

_Sora: I already planned on it, duh._

_Kairi: So...are any of his friends hot? ;)_

_Sora: Hell yes! Red head named Axel, seems a little annoying._

_Kairi: Red head? Not your type. Lol annoying...already?_

_Sora: Yes and then the quiet brunette Terra, kinda scary, has manners, and a deep sexy voice ;D_

_Kairi: My type!_

_Sora: And then there is Riku...he has such pretty eyes and he is quieter than Terra, but the way he smiles is so hot!_

_Kairi: Omg Sora!_

_Sora: I know :) too bad he isn't gay._

_Kairi: You don't know that! Oh gtg Selphie's here. ttyl bye love._

_Sora: Bye._

I logged off and sighed. Sure it was already eight there, but it was only five here. Three hour difference. Now what was I supposed to do. Apologize. I closed my lap top and sat up. How I am I supposed to do that when I don't even know what to say. Oh well. I opened the door and walked down the hallway pass the stairs and could hear from here the plates being set on the table. I walked to the door on the left, slightly cracked, and knocked. "Come in." came Roxas's voice from inside the room.

When he saw me he immediately turned around. Drama queen much. I walked in and slowly shut the door. "Roxas," I started, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have blown up over something so little. I know that I'm a guest here, and it's your house, your summer to enjoy. I'm sorry, things have been really hard on me lately, and I'm just scared to encounter new people. I'm just scared of what they'll think of me. I know that you've wanted me to meet your friends for a while, and I can't expect you to ignore them the whole summer break, that would be cruel. Again, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for today and I'm sorry for that night" I watched as Roxas's shoulders relaxed.

He turned around with tears in his eyes and spoke, "Sora, I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have said what I said. It wasn't your fault; it wasn't anyone's fault but that horrible night, but his. I know that, I've been to the therapist too much not to know. I just, I got really upset, at what you said. Axel and Terra and Riku, they've have really been there for me through some times. It hurt me a little when you said that, so it sort of just slipped up and said that." "But did you mean it?" I asked afraid of the answer. There was slight silence and then "No." I smiled as did he, and we hugged. When we pulled away Roxas smirked. "What?" I asked. "Nothing." Roxas replied, but I knew too well that it was nothing. "Roxas, what are you up to?"

:.

Everyone laughed as Axel told another stupid joke about a squirrel and a land mower. I was quite tired of laughing actually, but Axel didn't seem to notice. Quite frankly I was tired of smiling; I was tired of talking to these people that I didn't know. I was tired of answering ever single question that they had. The only one that hadn't asked me a question was Riku. In fact he hadn't spoken at all, as much as I wanted him too.

We had all finished dinner and were waiting for the dessert to finish. Sora smiled thinking back to dinner. He hadn't ate all day and it was like heaven when he took his first bite. Now I was waiting anxiously for the dessert. Just a few more minutes and I could go back upstairs into solitude. If it wasn't for Roxas, I wouldn't be down here to begin with. I started to sulk.

But then Aunt Sophie ran into the kitchen as the oven beeped, signaling that the dessert was done. Everyone smiled and grabbed their forks. Aunt Sophie came out of the kitchen with a big pot, steaming the room up. She looked right at me and said, "Sora! This is for you." Everyone turned to look at me and I started to blush. I hated being the center of attention. "Your favorite dessert," that thought alone made me happy, "Paupu pie." A huge smile appeared on my face as I grabbed my fork and clapped my hands. I was a child when it came to sweets. Everyone laughed again.

:.

When we were all done stuffing our faces they piled into the living room while I attempted to help Aunt Sophie with the dishes. She denied the help, but she said I could take out the trash so I did. I grabbed the ends of the white bag, tied it together and pulled it out of the trash can itself. I opened the back/garage door and walked down the steps. The wind hit me in the face and I cursed under my breath. I threw the bag into the bigger trash can and sighed. That chore was over, now just try and survive the rest of the summer. Yay.

I straightened my back and stared at the cloudy sky. It was going to rain. I smiled as the wind seemed to carry me away. I stared down the hill and could hear the angry waters hitting the beach. I felt so contempt, and at the same time empty. I frowned. What a beautiful, yet depressing sight. "Beautiful, isn't it?" asked the stranger. I jumped at the voice. I turned around to meet Riku. He smirked at me, and my knees became weak all over again.

"Y-yeah, it is beautiful." I replied. He stepped to stand next to me and crossed his arms. "So, Sora, how come you're avoiding us?" I almost melted when he said my name.

"Wha-what are you talking about?"

"You've been avoiding us. They haven't noticed, but that's because they don't pay attention. Being quiet has its benefits." His smirk widened.

"I'm not avoiding you, I mean you guys. I just...I hate meeting new people. I hate having the attention directed to me. Unlike my cousins who love to be center of attention, well maybe not Ventus, I don't." I complained. My hands started to shake.

He closed his eyes and nodded his head. I wonder what he is thinking. "I understand completely, but sometimes you have to face the world and come out of your shell, you'll have to meet new people, whether they like you or not, whether you like them or not."

I giggled and his eyes shot open. He looked at me and frowned. "Geez, you sound like my mother." I giggled again. His smile returned to his face and replied, "Just trying to give you some helpful advice." I smiled at him, showing him that I was thankful. I could see why Roxas liked this one at least. "You know Sora, you'll always be my center of attention." I furrowed my brow as he turned back into the house. What was that supposed to mean? I tried to think of what he was trying to imply, but nothing came to mind.

When I entered the house, still a little flustered, they were saying their goodbyes. I leaned against the doorframe in the dining room and watched them talk. Terra said he wanted to hit the road before the rain came. Roxas had somehow managed to talk Axel into staying, strange. They were both laughing and I noticed Axel's hand linger on top of Roxas's. My eyes narrowed at the action. I couldn't hear what Ventus was whispering to Terra, but I figured he wanted him to stay the night to. I could see the hope in his eyes. I almost laughed. It was like watching a five-year-old plead with his mother to have his friend spend the night.

Terra slightly shook his head 'no' and told Ventus something else. Ventus became instantly deflated. Then I felt bad. I watched as Cloud patted Riku on the back and headed upstairs for the night. I looked back to Riku, only for my eyes to meet his. I slightly jumped, but didn't look away. I couldn't, I was frozen in his gaze. His beautiful sea green gaze. He continued to stare at me as I started to loose myself in his eyes. A smirk played on his face as my insides started to burn. My heart started to beat faster and faster. I was almost about to faint when he abruptly turned away. I felt myself jerk at the loss of his eyes on mine.

I looked at my hands, then back to the group. Terra and Riku headed out the door, Riku not once looking back at me. I clenched my fists. The wind hit me again as the front door closed. Roxas and Axel went upstairs, still laughing. What was so damn funny? Ventus turned to me and smiled quickly before walking outside. "Wait, where are you going?" I asked. Ventus didn't say anything, but motioned for me to follow.

And so I did.

:.

A/n: Aunt Sophie was made up in about 2 minutes :) Hope you liked the chapter. Tell me what you think. Please R/R and leave me a message if you have a question or anything looks weird or something is spelt wrong. Thanks!


	4. Runs in the family

Blood Runs Red

Chapter 4: Runs in the family

A/n: Alright, I don't own Kingdom Hearts or any of the characters in this story except Sophie. I don't own Green Day or Linkin Park or Capri sun. :) It's about 5:25 in the morning. Enjoy.

*5/22/12. Hopefully it flows better. Done editing this chapter. On to the next.

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The wind hit me hard, but I continued to follow Ventus down the hill. We veered off into the brush, but not for long until we reached the beach. There jetting out from the sand was a dock. This was the very dock that we played at when we were little. We scuttled under the dock and Ventus plopped down on the sand. I stood there for a minute trying to think why Ventus wanted me to come out here, especially in this. The wind was getting stronger and stronger. What was so important? So I sat down next to him and asked.

"Uhhh…. Ventus...?"

"Sora, how are you?" I was taken aback. "Ok, I guess. Why do you ask?" He looked at me and then to the sand. He played with it in his hand before he replied. "We know." If I wasn't confused before, I was now. "What?" I asked. Ventus quickly looked up at me and then away. "We know, about you. About your situation, about why you came here. Your mother told us." As the words slipped out of his mouth I became nervous. She told? Why? Why would she do this to me? I was supposed to have a summer to get away. She told, and now everything is ruined. They'll hate me too. Just like him. Just like my father.

I flinched as Ventus placed his hand on my shoulder. "Sora, we won't judge you." he said in a calm, reassuring voice. But how would I know that for sure. How would I know that they didn't secretly hate me behind my back. My whole body convulsed. I looked at him with tears in my eyes. I was scared. Scared of rejection from another family member. At first his face was full of concern, then it quickly flashed to amusement. That only made me feel worse. "Don't worry, Sora, it happens to run in the family." At first I didn't understand what he was saying and then the picture of Axel's hand over Roxas's. All the damn giggling and laughing. It all made sense now.

"Roxas is gay?" I asked. Ventus nodded his head and replied, "Not the only one." then he smirked. My eyes widened. No way. Roxas and Ventus were both gay? No, he was making fun of me. He had to be, right? Or maybe he wasn't. Maybe I wasn't alone in my struggle. He wouldn't play games like that, not Ventus. Not to me. He was family. He had to be telling the truth. I started to smile as did he. "So, how do people take it here." I asked. "Some people are ok with it, others are not. We've gotten looks, whispers, but nothing like what you had to go through. So, how are you?" he asked again, glancing at my busted lip. "Well, now I'm way better, knowing I'm not alone in this. Knowing that there is still some people out there that love me." This time a real smile crossed my face. Ventus smiled too. "So why did you bring me out here to tell me this?" I asked, curiously. "I didn't want Axel to overhear our conversation. If he found out, he would tell everyone. Everyone." Ventus explained as he rolled his eyes. I laughed, but quietly thanked Ventus for his thoughtfulness. Quietly thanked them all for their love and understanding.

And then the wind blew me over.

:.

"So do you like Terra?" I asked with a huge grin on my face as we walked back towards the house. Ventus quickly turned red. "Yeah, he's just...distant sometimes. But he understands me, you know?" I shook my head no. Ventus laughed and I pouted. "Don't worry, you'll understand one day. You'll meet someone and then you'll understand" I hoped so. Tiny little raindrops hit my head and I looked at the sky again. It was almost as dark as night, but no thunder or lightning. Strange.

We didn't talk the rest of the way back to the house. Not that I didn't want to talk, hell I was all giddy to know that not only was Roxas gay, but so was Ventus. Who knew? But I was breathless; this was a pretty steep hill. Ventus was use to this activity, while I wasn't. I'm not athletic, not a bit.

When we finally reached the top, under the safety of the garage roof, the bottom fell out. The wind was so hard; it blew raindrops all over me. Ventus, of course, laughed at me. I glared at him which only made him laugh harder. "Want a hug?" I said as I ran to him, arms open and dripping wet. He squealed and ducked. I laughed at the noise, but continued to chase him. "Hug?" I kept repeating. I would not give up! I was persistent, if not anything else.

:.

We finally made it inside. I was proud to say that we were both soaking wet. We both laughed as we ran through the living room, pass the strange look from Aunt Sophie and up the stairs to the bathroom. We both grabbed towels off the rack and continued to giggle as we dried ourselves off. "I think I'm going to take a shower." He decided out loud. I took that as my cue to leave and walked out of the bathroom and into my room.

I threw the wet towel in the hamper and looked out the window. It was storming, and yet there still was no thunder or lightning. Just really menacing rain. I struggled to pull my soaked tank top off, but managed as well as my wet shorts and boxers. Then I threw on some nice warm ones. I put on some nice baggy sweat pants and threw myself onto my bed. Ugh, I'm so tired. Today had been crazy hectic; I left Kairi around eight this morning, I arrived here around eight, eleven back in Twilight Town, I went swimming for half the day, was the center of attention for hours and found out that my cousins were gay too. Eventful right?

Sleep fell upon me before I even knew it. I remember waking up once, freezing, and noticed that I wasn't even under the blanket. Crawling under them, I fell right back to sleep. That's when dreamed about a silver-haired teen, Riku. He was just...there. Standing so far away I wouldn't have known it was him without the silver hair. I tried to reach out for him, but my arms felt like bricks. My voice was never above a whisper, so calling out for him didn't work either. Instead I could only watch Riku from afar. It was terrible.

My eyes opened and suddenly burned at the bright light. I squinted them and glared at the window. Damn you for being so light. Yes I tend to be a very cranky person in the morning. Slowly I sat up and stretched. My back popped. I slid over and sat on the side of the bed while I rubbed my face. The clock read 10:45 a.m. I got off the bed and stumbled to the door, still half asleep. It was difficult to walk down the hallway and the stairs, but I took one at a time, not wanting to fall and made it. I rounded the empty living room, and found myself in the kitchen. Aunt Sophie was already up and cooking breakfast. I smiled at her. She smiled back.

I sat on the stool in the kitchen and held my head in my hands. My eyes were stinging due to being so tired, but I didn't like to sleep late, so here I was. I wasn't the type to sleep the day away. My cousins and I were almost complete opposites. Almost. I smiled again at the thought of last night's events. Aunt Sophie handed me a plate and I thanked her. Immediately, I began eating my breakfast: eggs and bacon, with some lemonade, not a big fan of orange juice I must say. I was stuffed when I was finished and I had to hobble up stairs, to my room. My attire for the day was a bright, blue tank top with my bright, red swim trunks. I grabbed a beach towel out of the bathroom and walked out.

Sophie was in the living room eating her breakfast when I passed her, told her I would be at the beach if anyone came looking, and continued out of the house. The walk down to the beach was quiet and calming. I stepped slowly down the hill and stared at my feet the whole way down. When my feet hit the sand I looked up. The beach was absolutely breathtaking. There was no evidence of last night's rain storm at all. Perfect. I looked up and down the beach, but spotted no one. This place has always been quiet and secluded. One of the many things I liked about being here.

I waded out into the water and dunked under for a minute. The water was luke warm. I resurfaced and watched the waves. They were nice and calm. For a while I just floated there, thinking about last night then thinking about Riku, then Kairi. But eventually, I became bored. Everyone likes to be alone sometimes, and I know I do, but I can't be bored. So I stepped back out of the water and walked down the beach to the dock. It wasn't far away. I walked onto the dock and stared at the tiny boats in the water. When we were little we use to take these little boats out as far as we could. I smiled at the memory that flashed through my head. There was a snap behind me and I twirled around. No one was there. Ok, I'm officially freaked out at the moment.

Must have been an animal. I dismissed it and walked back to the house. The sun was beating down on me pretty hard now and I could feel my skin burn slightly. My lip seemed to be on fire as well. I opened the door to the house and felt the wonderful air conditioner blast cool air on my burning body. It felt great. I immediately headed to the fridge and pulled out a Capri Sun, finished that off quickly, and threw it in the trash. When I made it to the living room Aunt Sophie was asleep on the couch, so I headed up stairs. No watching TV in here for me.

:.

I was very bored now. Beyond bored in fact. Nothing to watch on TV, Kairi wasn't on, everyone was asleep, I had already washed my hair, I was slowly going to lose my mind. I was drawn out of my crazy thoughts when a knock came to the door. "Come in." I said instantly. The door opened and Cloud strolled in. Forgot that he lived here for a moment. I smiled as he spoke, "I'm going out to hang with some friends. I know everyone is asleep, and you have got too be bored, so I thought that you might want to come." I sighed in relief and said, "Of course!" Sometimes Cloud could read minds. Cloud laughed as I hopped of the bed and attempted to brush my hair. Quickly, I changed out of my swim trunks and into some long jean shorts then followed him through the house and out the backdoor.

We hopped into a black Mustang GT and flew out of the driveway. Apparently, this was Cloud's car. It had rock CDs everywhere and a skull hung from the rearview mirror. Green Day was playing in the back ground and I almost laughed, but decided against it. I watched as the houses flew by the window and instantly became relaxed. When Green Day went off a Linkin park song came on. We slowed down as we pulled into a parking space, in front of a gift shop and we both climbed out. There was a group of people standing in front of the store chatting. I stayed behind Cloud, wanting to avoid a confrontation, as he walked up to his friends. I quickly recognized a few of them.

Tifa was a tomboy. She was pretty tough and always seemed a little scary to me when I was little. But now that I had grown up, she seemed to look girlier. If that's even a word. Leon, Cloud's best friend since forever, they even seemed to dress alike. They were both wearing all black. And Aerith, she was the nicest one out of the group. I never felt nervous around her, and apparently neither did Cloud because they dated for a while.

But there was someone else. What caught me was his long, flowing, silver hair. Silver hair that reminded me of Riku's. I stepped out from behind Cloud a teeny bit and eyed him a little bit better. He was tall, taller than Leon, who was taller than Cloud. He had the same sea green eyes, yet they were terrifying. He wore a red shirt with some band scribbled on it and straight legged jeans. He glanced at me and then back down the street. Quite scary I'd say.

"Sora?" I heard. I looked up to see the sweet Aerith bend to give me a kiss on the cheek. Instantly my face flushed. "I haven't seen you in so long!" She clapped her hands and everyone laughed. Except Silver-Haired God. Cloud leaned to me and handed me $50 dollars and told me to go look around. I knew that he didn't want me to hang around with them anymore, and truth be told, neither did I. "Meet me back here by three." He said as they trailed off. I stood on the sidewalk and watched them walk all the way down to the movies. I sighed, I'm glad that ordeal was over.

I strolled down the street and glanced through all the store windows. Nothing really exciting or appealing jumped out at me. Ten or fifteen minutes later I had reached the halfway mark on this little strip and stopped in a diner for a smoothie. I sat on the stool and sucked on my strawberry smoothie. It was really tasty and I was content. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a flash of silver. My head turned and my eyes met a pair of sea green ones.

"Sora." Riku said. I had to hold back the smile that tried to present itself. "Riku." I replied, nonchalantly. He took a seat next to me and ordered a coke. "So, where is Roxas? Ventus?" He asked. "At home, Cloud drove me into town. He walked off with some of his friends and I have been walking the strip." I said proudly. He eyed me for a second. "Why are you here?" I asked. "I came with my brother. Sephiroth. Like you I've also been walking the strip." Sephiroth, so that was the silver-haired god's name, and he was related to Riku. Ofcourse. Then the clinging of glass on the counter let me know that Riku had received his Coke. I was too busy staring at his hair.

:.

We walked the strip together now. We chatted about our likes, dislikes, our lives, my town, his family, that sorta thing. I found out a lot of things, like how Riku likes the beach and how he can stay out there all day. He also likes it when it rains and his favorite color is green. He says he is very active and it shows. He plays soccer at his high school, Destiny Islands High. Riku dislikes people who whine and dislikes video games, which I love by the way, and hates rap. Loves rock. He seemed to ramble, but I really didn't care. Just being in his presence made my heart lighter somehow. I smiled as he started to tell me about his other three brothers. My head moved to look at the store window and I came to a stop. Riku noticed and stopped too. "What is it?" he asked. "It's a necklace." Is all I said.

Riku stepped next to me and admired the necklace. It was a simple, gold necklace with a paupu fruit on the end. But it wasn't one necklace, it was two. It was a friendship necklace and I wanted it. It was $95, because it was real gold. Actually that was pretty cheap. I shoved my hand in my pocket and pulled out my remaining money. All I had was $42, the smoothie was $8. What a rip off. I recounted my money, as if recounting it would give me more, and sighed when the end result was the same. I looked at the money and cursed it.

"I'll help pay for it." came Riku's voice out of nowhere. I stared at him in shock. "What? I have enough money, I'll help you pay for it." A huge smile appeared on my face. I grabbed Riku and hugged him, before both of us knew what was happening. He started to hug back, but I realized what I was doing I instantly jumped back. Riku didn't seem to notice me jump away from him like he was burning me; he was still sort of shocked. "I have 42 dollars." I announced then handed the money to Riku and we walked into the store. I watched anxiously as the cashier removed the necklace from the window and placed it into a nice, black box. "Buying this for a special someone?" asked the cashier. I started to giggle. "Sorta." Riku replied. The cashier took the money and handed him the bag.

When we got outside I almost exploded with joy. "Come on." I said. Riku laughed as he pulled the box out of the bag and handed it to me. I opened the box as fast as I could. The gold shined perfectly in the sun, and made the necklace look great. There was I tiny leaf on the paupu fruit that was painted green and set the whole necklace in order. "Alright, gimmie." Riku said. I stared at him as he snatched the box out of my hand and pulled out a necklace. He then tossed it to me, who almost didn't catch it, and pulled out the other one. I pouted, I wanted both necklaces. With both you had the whole star shaped fruit, with one you only had half. Riku looked at me and laughed again.

"You are so adorable," at that I was shocked, " but I helped pay for it so I should get the other half." He was right, if he hadn't have helped pay, I wouldn't have it all. But I could have come back with Cloud and bought it. Oh well, I reluctantly shook my head yes and he slipped it over his head. "Now we are best friends forever." I said. "How do you figure?" he asked. "Well we do have best friend necklaces on." I said. He pondered it for a second and then smiled. "Good." He said.

:.

I slid into the back seat of Cloud's car, for a girl with pale, pink hair had stolen my seat in the front. I pouted, but ever so slightly, for now I was seated ever so closely to Riku. I smirked at the thought. So I asked my new best friend to hang out with me for the rest of the day.

No big deal. Right?

:.

A/n: Fixed the beginning and I have to say it's a little better than before. Tell me what you guys think. Like, love, hate. Doesn't matter R/R please. Message me if I screwed up on something or you have any questions.

Ps. Sora loves necklaces ;)

Love you guys :) -going to bed!


	5. Squash is icky

Blood Runs Red

Chapter 5: Squash is icky

A/n: Ahhhhh! It's been awhile since I've uploaded anything. Sorry! Forgive me! I've got a lot of stuff going on right now. One of these happens to be that my computer has a virus! grrr. So I got to get rid of that before I upload anything else. And I'm not sure when I will upload anything else...so just bear with me! :(

ps: this is a really short chapter, but I needed to get something out there for you guys! :D

*6/1/12. Here you go. New and revised :) Enjoy.*

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On the way back home we stopped by Riku's house so he could pick up his swim trunks and some other things.

He happened to live in one of the new suburbs on the other side of the island. I stared at the sign as we pulled into the suburb called Radiant Gardens. What a fancy name, I thought. The houses weren't too small, but not as big as what my cousin's lived in. We pulled up to one of the two-story houses and Riku hopped out of the car before I could ask if this was the place. He ran up the driveway and into the house without even looking back. I hope this won't take long, sitting in the car with Cloud and his strange friend was a little nerve racking. Cloud was making small conversation with the pink haired girl and the radio was playing. It was so low I couldn't make out what was playing though.

I looked at my hands and then to the grass of his front lawn. I'd say he had about half an acre, maybe more. His two-story house sat right dab in the middle. It was cute, nice hedge plants, a few trees, some flowers. Homey. I smiled, then my eyes widened as a noticed something in the yard. Lying under a small tree near the side of the house was a person who had the same trade mark silver hair. He had a book draped over his face and wasn't moving, so I presumed that he was asleep. I mean, I'm pretty sure he wasn't dead. I just giggled, and the pink haired girl glanced back at me. She scared me.

'Thud'

I looked back to my right as Riku settled back into his seat. I smiled, forgetting about the scary girl with pink hair that stole my seat. Riku huffed and blew a piece of hair out of his eyes and smiled back. Leaning over him, I stuck my face to the window as we pulled out of the driveway.

"Who's that?" I asked pointing to the sleeping kid under the tree. Riku leaned towards the window and I sat back in my seat.

"Oh that's just Yazoo, one of my brothers." He said smiling. I scrunched my face. "How many brothers do you have?" I asked. "Um, four." He replied sighing slightly. "Wow, I'm an only child." I thought out loud. "Lucky." Riku stated. "Lucky? I've always wanted a sibling. You know how lonely it gets at home." I said as a pout formed on my lips. Riku began to laugh. I looked at him, confused on why he was laughing, but dismissed it anyways.

By the time we got back to the house we were both laughing, and neither of us could remember why. We stumbled out of the car, like we were drunk, and walked into the house. Aunt Sophie was still asleep on the couch so we snuck past her, not making a sound. When we made it passed her we quickly ran up the stairs and into my room. We made sure to shut the door. "We are so ninja!" I announced. At that Riku began to laugh again. I smiled and Riku just patted my head as if I were a dog. "Mind if I change in your bathroom?" He asked as he pointed to the small bathroom connected to the room. "Sure." I answered a little too quickly. He grinned and entered the bathroom, closing the door behind him. I quietly fainted. Or it felt like it. My heart was pounding.

Then I had an amazing idea so I quickly opened up my lap top and logged on to yahoo. Darn, Kairi still wasn't on. Deciding not to wait on her I quickly sent her an email about how I was going to spend the rest of the day with Riku and got off. Then, as if on cue, Riku opened the door right when I was putting the lap top away. He gave me a questioning look and I grinned, not giving him an answer. He shrugged his shoulders and said, "Your turn." Therefore, I grabbed my swimming trunks and stepped into the bathroom. Changing quickly was my top priority. I didn't want Riku to get bored. Or look through my stuff. I didn't believe he would do that, but you never know.

I opened the bathroom door and stepped out. Riku pulled himself off the bed and grinned again. I inwardly sighed, and said, "Let's go swimming." He nodded his head and we walked out of the room. Laughter and muffled voices could be heard from Roxas's room. Well they were awake, but thank god, they had decided not to leave the room. We walked down the stairs and out the back door. Walking the whole way there in silence would be nerve racking so I decided to be a little random and yelled, "Race you there!" and ran down the hill. "No fair!" Riku said behind me. I ran as fast as I possibly could, but Riku caught up to me, fast. I tried to run in front of him, but tripped over my own feet instead. I landed face first in the sand. Needless to say my busted lip was not happy.

I sat there with my face in the sand for a minute as Riku laughed. I grunted and rolled over, quickly trying to wipe the sand from my face, but it didn't really work. Riku continued to laugh but gave me his hand and helped me up. "Ready to swim?" Riku asked. There was no answer, just the sound of me hitting the water. Speaking of which, the water felt great, and helped remove the rest of the sand that was stuck to my face.

Then Riku came busting up from underneath the water. He shook his head for a minute to get the water out of his hair and everything seemed to go into slow motion. The sun instantly hit his hair so beautifully; it was like nothing I had ever seen before. My eyes trailed down a ways to watch the water roll across his face and fall back into the ocean. When Riku finally opened his eyes to look at me, I knew my face was blood red. And it wasn't a sun burn.

I could stay out here all day.

:.

All day seemed to have ended around six when we headed back to the house. We chatted about nothing in particular on our way back and that felt relaxing. When we made back to the house we caught Cloud and the pink haired girl get into his car and leave. We both snickered like two teenage girls and entered the house. And then I froze. The sweet smell of Aunt Sophie's cooking ran through my nostrils. I grinned, I was starving, what can I say? Riku went up the stairs and I stood next to Aunt Sophie as she mixed something together in a bowl. There was a long silence and then I asked, "What'cha cooking?" She looked down at me surprised, as if she didn't know I was standing there, and smiled.

"Well, today we are having salmon, biscuits, peas, and backed squash." "Squash?" I cringed. "Yes, squash, you'll like it." and at that she turned away to roll the biscuits out and I felt my stomach turn. Squash is icky, enough said. I then proceeded back upstairs were I had almost forgot Riku was up there. Alone. At that thought I quickened my pace. When I opened the bedroom door, no one was in the room. Um, that's not right. Riku did come up here. Didn't he? Maybe he was hiding. I looked around the room, but nothing seemed to be out of place. Why would he hide anyways? He is not four. Maybe he went to Roxas's or Ventus's room.

I concluded that that was the case, and then went into the bathroom to change. My wet swim trunks were nice and all, but some dry clothes would feel great right now. I threw the beach towel in the hamper and stood at the sink for a minute. The mirror was a tad bit dusty due to the lack of use, but I could clearly make myself out. So I did happen to have a slight sunburn, but other than that I was pretty tan. Unlike someone. Riku said he could stay all day at the beach, yet he was so pale. Strange, moving on. I looked at my hair, messy. Grabbing the brush from the counter to my left, I ran it through my hair. At least now it wasn't clumpy. My busted lip was looking quite better, so that was a good sign. I smiled at my reflection, satisfied, and headed out of the bathroom.

I quickly stopped in my tracks when I felt a warm breeze brush by me. Glancing to my right, I saw that the balcony doors were open, so I inched closer to the doors and peered through the curtains. Leaning against the railing was Riku. He looked perfect. My heart fluttered. I took a deep breath and walked onto the balcony, coming to a stop next to him. He didn't look at me, just continued to stare at the setting sun. I pouted a little, not accustomed to being ignored, and then focused on the setting sun as well.

"Beautiful." he whispered. I looked at him and he turned and looked at me. Then we laughed. "Terra's going to be here soon." At that random comment, I became confused. And he noticed. "Terra called me and told me that Ventus invited him to spend the night." he explained. "Oh." I nodded my head. That made since, now I understood why Aunt Sophie was slaving over the stove again. She loved to cook anyways. "So," Riku continued. "Axel told me that he was also going to stay the night again." I sighed, not another night with him. The horrible jokes, the strained conversations, and all that damned laughter. I cringed. Riku gave me a strange look, but continued on, "I would stay too, but I have to work tomorrow." Instantly, I became depressed, on the inside that is. It hadn't even occurred to me that Riku could very well spend the night too. Now I felt worse. "Oh, well that sucks." I said, disguising my depression. "Yeah, it does." He agreed. We then turned and watched the sun continue to set. It really was beautiful. And I really was falling for this guy.

It took no longer than five minutes for the sun to set completely, but we continued to stand on the balcony as the stars came out. We were silent, but I liked it and he didn't seem to care. I smiled into the night. "Diner's ready!" We heard Axel yell from down the hallway. My smile faded, fast. Riku turned around silently and entered the bedroom. My heart fell a little as I followed behind him and closed the balcony doors. "I heard we are having squash tonight." He said with a grin. "Unfortunately." I replied. Riku only laughed again. He seemed to do that a lot around me.

:.

Diner was delicious. Everything was cooked to perfection. If there was anything my Aunt could do, it was cook. I smiled as I sat my plate in the sink for my Aunt to wash. "Did you like the squash?" she asked, evilly. My eyes widened and my face flushed in embarrassment. Actually, I did like the squash. It was sweet, and tasted really good. What I didn't like was the fact that I was forced to eat it. Axel and Roxas held me down on the floor while Ventus shoveled it down my throat. Sometimes Ventus could be evil too. I shuddered at the memory. "Yes it was really good." I said, scared. She laughed again causing me to smile. I asked her if there was anything I could do to help and again I was told to take the trash out. Obeying her order, I lugged the heavy bag out the back door and with some difficulty threw it into the trashcan.

I heard the backdoor open and turned around to see Riku. I smiled as he came closer. He stopped and stood in front of me. Riku was slightly taller than me, so I had too to lift my head to meet his eyes. When I did, he smiled down at me and I my heart melted. "Well I got to go now," and then my heart froze. "So I came out here to say bye." He smiled and I returned the smile with my own, reluctantly. I really didn't feel like smiling. "We should totally hang out again next week though." My spirit lifted at the thought. "Yes, we should!" I clapped my hands together in agreement.

Riku chuckled and then we fell into a silence. I was waiting for him to turn around and leave but he never did, he just stared at me. Then I started to become self-conscious. Why was he staring at me? Was there something on my face? Did I say something? What is he thinking? My mind went blank, so I just stood there too. I didn't know what to do, but I didn't look into his eyes. No this time, because I didn't want to get stuck like last time. To be wretched away from his hypnotizing gaze with nothing.

Suddenly he began to move. He slowly leaned forward and I closed my eyes, feeling my heart jump right out of my chest. His hand brushed my neck very gently, heating up my skin. I felt his fingers close around the necklace that hung from my neck. And then I opened my eyes and watched as he connected the star shaped fruit together. He was so close now. Our heads were practically touching and I could feel his breath in my face.

He smiled down at the conjoined necklaces and then back up at me. "Best friends?" he asked. It took me moment to regain my composer, but I smiled and shook my head yes. Words would not form themselves right now and I was too scared to let them try. Then he disconnected the necklace and stepped away from me. The moment was gone and I could already feel myself missing it. He patted me on the head and turned around, walking away from me. I started to breathe heavy as he headed around the house, out of my view. Slowly, I walked after him, my hand clutching my chest. It felt like I couldn't breathe. Then there was the sound of a car starting and when I reached the front of the house, a blue sports car was driving down the driveway.

I stood there for a while still trying to breathe. Finally, I walked back around to the backdoor and entered the house. My main objective now was to make it to my room as quickly as possible. I managed to sneak passed Axel and Roxas who were on the couch and made it to my room. I could hear Ventus's voice coming from out in the hallway, he was yelling for Axel to turn down the TV, but I don't know if he ever did. My bed looked very inviting so I plopped down onto it. I couldn't think of anything that I wanted to do at the moment, all I could think about was Riku.

Riku.

Riku.

Riku.

RIKU!

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A/n: RIKU! :) Sora's obsessed. Well please R/R and I will upload something as soon as I can. Till then, leave me stuff. ;)


	6. Love sick girl

Blood Runs Red

Chapter 6: Love sick girl

A/n: Heya guys! I'm back with a new chapter! So yeah as you can see I got rid of that virus and now I has some security :) I wrote this one pretty quickly so there might be a few mistakes sorry! Hope you enjoy!

*3/1/13. Where the hell have I been? I'm so sorry. None of you are reading this, I know, but I did fix some things. I miss you and this story.*

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I woke up around two, two thirty maybe. I don't really remember, nor do I even remember falling asleep, but apparently I had. Sluggishly, I rose into a sitting position. My head was pounding. I winced at the pain and looked around the room. The bright light was making my head hurt worse. I huffed and threw myself out of the bed. Aunt Sophie has got to have something for a headache. So, I opened my bedroom door and set out on my mission.

Mission- to find any kind of pain reliever to subdue this headache.

I walked down the stairs to find Axel and Roxas asleep on the couch. My face scrunched, causing my head to hurt more. Not a good idea. I shrugged my shoulders and walked into the kitchen, turned on the light and proceeded to open all the cabinets until I found some medicine. Which, I finally stumbled across some five minutes later. The bowl was full of meds and I very heavy, so sitting it down on the counter quietly took some effort. I shoveled through the different types of meds until I came across some Ibuprofen.

Mission completed.

I popped two pills in my mouth and drank the glass of water that I just poured. Done. The medicines were put successfully back in the cabinet and I turned off the kitchen light while I walked back to the living room. The TV was still on running some silly cartoon, something Axel would enjoy. Speaking of which, Axel and Roxas were asleep on the couch. Axel looked like he had fallen asleep sitting up, but had slightly fell over. Whereas, Roxas had fallen asleep with his head in Axel's lap. Their hands laid close to each other's. I smiled. They were cute together; to bad, I couldn't stand Axel when he was awake. I was brought out of my thoughts when Axel shifted. Not wanting to be caught staring at my sleeping cousin and his 'boyfriend' I quickly returned upstairs.

:.

Sleep seemed to not be an option. It had already been forty-five minutes and I couldn't get back to sleep. Every time I closed my eyes I saw Riku's face, or his hair, or his eyes. It was quite annoying to say the least. Sighing, my eyes roamed to the ceiling. I could hear the slight ping of rain drops hitting the roof above me. I slid my tongue over my lip and winced when I ran over the split. It hurt sometimes, but at least it wasn't big or anything. It was actually fairly small for a busted lip. It was healing pretty fast too.

Ok, so sleep was completely out of the question. I slid out of bed and turned on the table light. Grabbed my computer out of the bag and turned it on, I checked my mail, but Kairi hadn't replied yet. Bummer. I decided that I would just surf the internet for a while until I got tired or something. I hit up a few gaming sites, but I wasn't in the mood to play games. Sleep was what I longed for. I opened a search engine, but couldn't think of what I wanted to search for so I just gave up.

:.

This was by far the worst thing ever. Sleep was my best friend, or so I thought. I rolled over and looked at the clock, twenty minutes after five. I huffed again and rolled back over onto my back. Why was it so hard to fall back asleep, and why could I not get Riku off my mind? All I could think was the same thing, over and over. How much I really liked Riku, but how little I knew about him. Was he even gay? Well he sure acted gay, but maybe he was just a touchy feely sorta dude. Maybe he was just nice and I was getting myself all worked up over nothing. I sighed heavily. Why do I have to be so paranoid? My frowned deepened in the darkness.

Why was I acting like such a love sick girl?

Maybe it is because I am one. I growled at my response to myself and decided that I would not listen to my own bullshit anymore. My iPod was my next solution. I quickly leaned over the bed and pulled out the said object from my bag, put my headphones in my ears and decided enough was enough. It was time to sleep.

I finally did fall asleep, listening to 'Where's my angel?' by Metro Station.

:.

Two p.m. was when I finally woke up. Great the day was already over. I pulled myself out of the bed and slowly got dressed. When I headed downstairs looking for the others, all I found was a note on the table. It read:

'Tried to wake you, but you wouldn't budge. Went to the movies, be back later. Sorry you missed out, next time! '

It was signed Roxas, Axel, and Ventus. Terra must not have felt like putting his name, for it was absent. I crumbled up the note and threw it into the trash. Whatever, it didn't bother me that I didn't get to go. I was actually sort of happy that I was by myself. It was quiet and relaxing. Now that I wasn't so down, like I was last night, I could actually enjoy some alone time. I went into the kitchen; made myself some lunch, sat down in front of the TV, and watched a marathon of Dragon Ball Z. I was satisfied.

:.

Riku's beautiful, silver hair blew slightly in the breeze. I smiled as the sun shined down on us. He laughed and turned to me, still smiling. "Sora." He said softly. His voice filled my ears. It made me happy. "Sora." His voice became lighter, almost changing tone. I scrunched my face together. "Sora!"

I jumped off the couch so fast I almost flew out of my shorts. Breathing heavily came next. A hand landed on my shoulder. I looked up quickly to meet Roxas. "Hey, calm down man. Geez, all I wanted to do was wake you, not give you a heart attack." He laughed at me, "But it was still pretty funny." I continued to breathe heavy, but slid over so Roxas could sit down. He took his seat while I resumed trying to get my heart rate under control. His eyes focused on me and he cocked an eyebrow. "You ok? I mean, you wouldn't wake up for nothing this morning and I come home to find you asleep on the couch, when I try to wake you, you freak out!" He threw his hands in the air, making it more dramatic. I thought it over quickly and replied, "I'm fine. It's just (Riku's been on my mind since yesterday) I fell asleep to early last night so I woke up. It took me forever to fall back asleep, which was around five. And so I overslept, sorry I missed going to movies with you guys." He blinked his eyes a few times, lost I presumed, and patted my shoulder. "That's alright man, like I wrote earlier, there's always next time. And besides the movie sucked." He said as he stuck his tongue out. I snickered.

:.

"Tell me all about! Leave no detail out!"

When I finally logged back onto yahoo, Kairi had finally replied. So of course, I explained to her about how we went swimming all day, how I was forced to eat squash, how Riku was very confusing, how he wouldn't stay off my mind, how Axel and Terra spent the night last night, and of course how Roxas and Ventus were gay. She would love that. I smiled evilly as I hit the send button, sending her my message.

Leaning back on the bed, I glanced at the clock on the computer. Nine. So I had officially done nothing all day. Great, this is exactly what I didn't want to do. Waste my summer doing nothing. My thoughts went back to Riku. I wonder what Riku did today. Oh yeah he had to work. I wonder where he works. NO! Snap out of it mister. I shook my head and grunted. Why did everything lead back to him. I had only known him for two days and I was already fallen head over heels for him. That's not even possible!

God.

I closed my laptop and sat on the bed for a minute, thinking. My mind went straight back to Riku, so I huffed and headed out on to the balcony. There was a chair that I made myself comfortable in and I began to stare at the stars.

:.

A cool breeze hit my face. I cracked an eye open to see that I was still outside. It was still dark out, but it was getting windy. Cold. A yawn escaped my mouth, but I continued to sit in the chair until the wind almost knocked me over. Time for me to head inside; I hauled myself up and fell onto the bed, not even bothering to close the balcony doors. The last thing I thought was how I was going to make it through the rest of the week.

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A/n: Yay! I really hope you guys understand. You're probably like omg Sora is in love with him already! Moving too fast but seriously I wrote this chapter based on experience. I'm not going to go into detail, but I seriously fell for a dude that I had barely even talked to. Anyways, it was really hard to get down the feelings I had. Poor Sora, I threw him into this too. Hahaha!

Well, tell me if you like! R/r please! Love - Hate?


	7. End of the World

Blood Runs Red

Chapter 7: End of the world

A/n: Back! New chapter, Adventure Time! :D Sorry for the last chapter. I know it was slow, it was boring, but it was essential! Sora leads a pretty boring, lonesome life. The only thing he wants is Riku to liven it up ;D

Anyways, sorry it took soooooo long. I really don't have an excuse, just, the last week I had Vbs(vacation bible school) I didn't have to go, but there was this really cute guy there and... Enough of my life! I'm not sure when I'll upload another chapter. School will be starting up soon and I'm not sure when I'll even get a chance to sit down and write. I hope I do, I don't want to let you guys down! I love you!

Ps. Thanks for all you guys who are faving, and reviewing and all that good stuff! It means a lot! It really does!

*3/1/13. Oh look at me catching up. It only took 2 years. Don't worry. I'll finish this story when I'm 80. Don't hate me.*

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Waking up to a weird, sharp jabbing pain in the forehead, is not fun. I winced and opened my eyes to see Roxas, of course, poking his finger into my cranium. Isn't there anybody else he can torture? I growled, trying to shoo him away, and he laughed as I slapped his hand and sat up. He scooted away, far away, from me and sighed. "What do you want?" Came my angry voice, I'm not a morning person, I said that already. "Wow, grumpy! I just wanted to see if you wanted to go to the beach?" He asked grinning from ear to ear. It was sort of nerve racking, but I didn't let him know that. That would only make him happier. "Um, sure, I guess." before I could say anything else Roxas was out the door and down the hallway. Even though he was a pain, I smiled anyways. Roxas was just... well Roxas.

I hopped out of bed and headed towards the bathroom. After using the toilet, I brushed my teeth, making sure not to hit my busted lip with the toothbrush, continued to brush my hair and threw on my swim trunks. When I finished that, I admired myself in the mirror, something I seemed to do a lot of recently. So sue me. Smiling, I skipped down the stairs and into the living room, plopped onto the couch next to Ventus, who was struggling to apply some sunscreen, which was sort of amusing and yawned.

There was a loud crack behind us as Roxas clapped his hands. We both twirled our heads around to face him. He gave us a terrifying smile and yelled "To the beach!" I sighed as Ventus laughed. Roxas was something else. I hopped off the couch and followed them outside. "So are we just going to go swimming?" I asked. Sure, the beach was fun, but how was I supposed to enjoy every day at the beach? After a while it got boring, unless Riku was there that is. "Well, duh." Roxas said. "Yeah, but it's sorta old now. Don't you guys ever do anything other than swim?" I asked as I turned around to walk backwards. "No." they said in unison. Excellent. This would a long summer indeed.

Brainstorming time. What could we do that was different? Think, beach, swimming, scratch that, swimming was getting boring. Um, what about the dock? We could go hang out by the dock, wait no, also boring. We could go fishing. Ehh, no. Then it hit me. "Roxas! Ventus!" I screamed, excited. "What?" They said in unison, again. God I hate that. "Remember that small island we found when we were little?" "Yeah." said Ventus. "What about it?" asked Roxas. "Why don't we go check it out? We haven't been there in like years! Come on, it'll be fun!" I begged. I could tell by the look on Ventus's face, he was in, but Roxas, I wasn't sure. It was always a struggle with Roxas.

"Please." Puppy dog eyes, no one could resist my puppy dog eyes. I watched as Roxas fell under the spell. Grinning, I knew that I won. "I guess." He finally said. "Yes!" This was going to be fun. I just knew it. We turned to our left and headed towards the small dock. "Why do you want to go there anyways?" asked Roxas. "Why not?" I retorted. Good enough answer. I mean, I really didn't know why. Just tired of swimming at the same boring spot, I guess. Some change would be nice.

:.

We climbed into the small fishing boat, which was a lot bigger when we were little. Roxas grabbed the oars and started moving back and forth. The sun was baking us, but the small breeze created by the movement of the boat helped to make it tolerable. I looked over the edge of the boat and stared at the clear, blue-green water beneath us. It was so pretty. The color almost resembled Riku's eyes. I smiled, and Ventus nudged me. I looked up to see the small island come into view. "There it is, Roxas! Row harder!" I yelled. "Shut up! If you want it to go any faster, you better get over here and row yourself!" At that Ventus and I laughed.

When the boat finally brushed against the small dock built there, we all quickly played rock paper scissors to see who would set foot first on the tiny island. Ventus won. He stepped out of the boat onto the dock while Roxas and I fought to be second. We almost turned the boat over, as we struggled to free ourselves from each other's grasp. Ventus tied the boat to the dock as Roxas stepped out of the boat. Roxas was the second one to set foot on the island and I was last. Lame.

I stretched as I slid out of the boat and onto the dock. "Ok, we're here, now what?" asked Roxas. "Well...I don't know. Let's just explore. See if anything has changed." I said, thoughtfully. "I don't think anyone has set foot on this island since we left Sora." Ventus replied. "You don't know that." I retorted quickly. Roxas huffed and Ventus smiled. I marched ahead of the two and looked up at the huge palm trees that lined the island.

"Remember what we called this place?" I asked, smiling sadly. "Yeah." Roxas replied. "End of the World." Ventus said. "Yeah." I said, still smiling. Back then we thought that this tiny island was all that was out there. Our littleminds still didn't know that the world was much bigger. And much meaner.

We walked off the dock and onto the small beach that wrapped halfway around the tiny island. On the left of us was a huge deck, we weren't sure what it was there for. Some of the trees held tree houses. Only a few of them were usable. Past the trees was a cave, were we used to draw and carve things onto the walls. Next to the opening in the cave was a tiny waterfall, surprisingly it was freshwater. To the right of us was a tiny shack, that lead to a bridge over the water to a higher mound of dirt that held a Paupu tree.

We used to sit and eat Paupu fruit until we were sick. Those were the days.

I continued to lead the way as we walked down the beach and to the wall made of wood. Whoever had 'built' the island was a little strange, I'll say that. There was a small door. It took us a few tries to open it, but it finally moved. When we walked through the door we came to the other side of the island. There was an old bridge that was falling in, but we managed to cross it. There was another small beach and some palm trees, but that was it. This island was tiny. "It's hot!" I complained. "Well how about we go swimming now." Roxas said agitated. "Ok!" I replied, cheerily. Why not. At that we all raced into the water.

:.

I crawled out of the ocean water and sat under one of the many palm trees that lined the beach about an hour later. Roxas and Ventus were busy swimming, but I still wanted to explore. It was one of those adventuring moods that seemed to have taken over me and I complied. I got to my feet and climbed the small rocks that were there. The rock formation led to another cave, which would put you on the other side of the island. When I finally reached the top, with a little trouble, the view was beautiful. I was pretty high up now. Waving to Ventus, who of course waved back, I proceeded on with my adventure. I entered the cave and the temperature immediately dropped. What a wonderful feeling.

After a walk I slowly approached the opening of the cave. I peeked over the edge and started to have second thoughts about going this way. It was still high up, but when I was little I use to jump it all the time so it couldn't be that bad, right? I sat down on the edge of the hard rock and threw my legs over. On the count of three. One. Breathe in, breathe out. Two. Breathe in, breathe out. Three. Jump!

The rush of air hit me hard in the face. My heart was beating as fast as ever. The ground was rushing towards me and my stomach got this funny feeling to it. I closed my eyes as my feet hit the ground. At first I had succeeded with jumping and landing on my feet. Then I fell face first into the dirt. I seemed to be doing that a lot too. Now I hurt. Rolling over wasn't too difficult but breathing without coughing was. I closed my eyes and listened to the sound of the waves crashing onto the shore. The sound of footsteps. The sounds of giggles. Wait! What?

I quickly opened my eyes to see two girls leaning over me. I hopped up into a sitting position as they began to laugh harder. My face turned red instantly. No matter what I did there was always some there to laugh at me. I fail at life.

"We saw what you did there. You looked quite stupid." said the small girl with black hair. The small blonde girl only giggled some more.

"Well that wasn't very nice." came a voice from in front of us. My head flipped up to see a girl with bright, blue hair and matching blue eyes. She wore a black tank top and a white skirt. You know, the kind of skirts you wear when you go to the beach. I was paying so much attention to trying to jump and land successfully on my feet that I didn't even notice the three of them.

"Now please say you are sorry, Xion." Said the stranger, she had quite a nice voice. Neither to high nor to low. The girl named Xion huffed a little bit, but turned to me and mumbled an apology. I smiled and accepted her tiny, inaudible apology.

"Are you ok?" I looked back to the blue-haired girl and nodded my head.

"I was just trying to use a short cut." I explained. She laughed, but it was okay because her laugh was soothing.

"Well, I've never seen anyone else on this island before." she said, looking a little confused.

"Oh, well my cousin's and I used to come here a few years ago, but we stopped. This is our first visit in like ten years!" I exclaimed.

She laughed again, I was beginning to like her laugh. "Haha.. Well excuse me, where are my manners! My name is Aqua. This here is Xion and Namine, my daughters." That information sort of blew my face off. She looked so young and yet these two girls were her daughters? This was crazy.

Xion was the taller of the two. She had short, black hair that wrapped around her face. Her bangs almost covered her deep, blue eyes. She wore a cute, little purple summer dress. Her sister,Namine, was completely the opposite. She had long blonde hair that was all pushed over one shoulder. Her bangs were long, but you could clearly see her sky blue eyes. She wore a cute, little white dress. Blue eyes seemed to run in this family. Or maybe the whole damn island.

I smiled at the both of them. "How old are they?" I asked, curious. "Oh, well Xion is eight and Namine is five." She patted both of their heads. I felt all warm and fuzzy inside at the gesture. It sorta made me miss my mom. "Well don't let us get in the way." Agua said, nicely. "Huh? No, no! You're not getting in the way; I was just going to go into the woods. Do alittle exploring." Aqua gave me a strange look, one of concern, but shrugged her shoulders anyways. "Well you be careful." She said sounding motherly. I loved it.

I slowly walked away from the threesome as they headed towards the beach. Entering the forest tookno time at all and I slowly mingled in and out of the trees. Then I rounded to the other side of the cave. The opening was wide. I stopped in front and stared at the waterfall. Some fresh water wouldn't be bad right now so, I skipped over and bent my face down towards the water. Then I saw my reflection. It looked really weird with all the ripples in the water. After a few minutes of staring at my messed up reflection I dunked my head under and quickly pulled back out. "Ahhhh..." That water was slightly colder than I thought it would be.

After drinking one or two handfuls of water I went back to the cave entrance. It was dark and spider webs hung from the top. I was a little afraid to enter, but pumped up my chest and said you only live once. I scrunched my face up and entered the cave anyway. Casually I walked along the cave wall, my hand tracing along it's cold, hard surface. The darkness was unbelievable and I kept running into spider webs, but finally I came to the opening in the cave where the sun shined through the hole in the ceiling. My eyes slowly adjusted to the light.

I slowly went around the cave admiring all the old drawings of when we were little. There were drawings of superheroes, chocobos, Paupu fruits, stars, sea salt ice cream, everything you could imagine a little boy would draw. Memories flooded my mind causing me to smile. My hand slowly traced the lines carved into the wall. I sat down on the soft sand and relaxed. Inside the cave was a lot cooler than being on the beach. That depressing feeling was creeping back. I suddenly felt lonely. Really lonely. So lonely that before I knew it I was wishing Riku was there, sitting with me.

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A/n: Awww Xion and Namine sound so cute don't they? :) And Aqua sounds like a good mommy! :D

What the hell am I talking about?

Please R/R it means alot!


	8. My silent reverie was over

Blood Runs Red

Chapter 8: My silent reverie was over

A/n: Sorry you guys that it's been so long since I posted, but I've decided to turn this into a summer project. Something that i wouldn't really work on much until summer, that why ideas could flow easily, and i have so much time on my hands during the summer. Now, i'll try to post chapters during breaks, but my Junior year was so busy, I doubt that my senior year will be any different. But don't worry, i haven't forgotten about it, and i haven't forgotten about you guys! you're my bread and butter baby! lol so moving on, don't get sad, because i still love you, i just hope you still love me, and are still dedicated to reading this story. LOVE YOU GUYS!

I don't own any characters, except Aunt Sophie. I don't own Kingdom Hearts. And I don't own SleepMD :)

*3/1/13. Look what I can do. I can finish reviewing 3 chapters in one night, but can't manage to write a chapter in two years. I'm a horrible person. You can hate me now.*

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"Yes, tomorrow," I said excitingly into the phone. "Around eleven thirty, that'll give us enough time to swim and eat and stuff, you know, the usual. Promise you'll be here. Great! See you then."

I squealed, like any girl who had just landed a date with her crush would, as I pressed the little red button on Roxas's cell phone. You wouldn't believe it, but I had just done the unthinkable. I called Riku. On Roxas's cell phone. It took me nearly a week to gather up enough courage to even ask Roxas to borrow his phone let alone call Riku.

It all boiled down to last week when I fell asleep in that cave. I had woken up to the best idea ever. Ask Riku to hang out, go swimming, lunch, go to the island and show him the cave. He'll love it, I just know he will. Smiling: I skipped down the hall and down the stairs, handed Roxas his phone on my way out the back door to the beach. I didn't give him enough time to ask me any questions. I already knew that he would look in the call history to see whom I called. Maybe I should have asked for Ventus's phone. Oh well, too late now.

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My toes dangled over the dock and into the warm, salty water. The wind whipped lightly back and forth as the sky grew darker, warning me that the rain was coming soon. But I couldn't go back inside now. My nerves were shot; I still couldn't believe I had done it. I felt as if I could run a mile and not be tired at all. My adrenaline was still pumping through my veins making me restless, and I didn't know what to do, but going back inside would only make me feel claustrophobic. Therefore, I remained on the dock, sitting and watching the churning waves.

Besides the wind allowed me to sit comfortably on the dock without burning up, and the clouds didn't let any sun pass through them so my skin wouldn't burn either. It was perfect. Tomorrow will be perfect too, I silently prayed. Nothing could go wrong. Aunt Sophie would be at work. Roxas usually slept until noon or later and Ventus was nice enough to not intervene. And Cloud wouldn't bother us, even if he was home. So it was all set. Nothing could go wrong. Then the doubt started to sink in.

What if I had bothered Riku when I called? What if he thought I was getting clingy? Or worse, was weird for calling him. However, he had agreed to come, and he sounded genially happy when he realized that it was I on the phone. Still, what if he just agreed to be nice, and didn't really want to hang out. No, stop! Stop doing this to yourself Sora. You're killing me.

I inhaled a large breath of sea salt enriched air, held it, and then slowly, calmly let it out. I needed to get control of my thoughts before they destroyed me. If I didn't I would ruin what little hope I had left.

Raindrops lightly hit my forehead and I knew that my silent reverie was over. Sighing; I pulled myself up and with one last look at the tiny island in the distance, I headed back for the house.

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As soon as I stepped into the kitchen, the bottom fell. The wind had become stronger and the loud booms of thunder over head was not the best sign. Nevertheless, there was nothing that could bring me down now. I was to be spending tomorrow with Riku. I hadn't seen him an entire week, and tomorrow he was mine. All mine. I wasn't going to let anything ruin it, not even my own thoughts.

Roxas eyed me as I walked into the living room giggling, but I ignored him. I sat down on the couch and he began to speak.

"What's so funny?" he asked. "Nothing." I replied, nonchalantly.

"Sure," he said, not convinced. "Heard you invited Riku over." He said with a smug look on his face. Heard? You mean from your call history. "What do plan on doing?" he asked. "None of your business. So don't worry about it." I snapped, ending the conversation. Roxas only laughed at my behavior, and continued on. "Well I hope you don't plan on doing too much, because the weather man says that this storm is a pretty big one. As a matter of fact he said that it could likely spill over into tomorrow and the following day as well." My eyes shot open. Oh no, what if it did spill over into tomorrow? What if our date had to be cancelled?

Whoa. What? Date? When did it become a date? Oh who am I kidding? I want more than anything in this world for tomorrow to be a date, but it's not. To me, it is, but to him, it's just a little hanging out with a friend. I could feel the depression start to creep into my brain again.

I got up from the couch and walked up the stairs to my room. "Maybe the weather man will be wrong, I mean the weathermen are always wrong, right?" yelled Roxas over his shoulder after me. If I wasn't so busy getting nervous and starting to worry, I would have noticed the slight amusement in his voice.

:.

The darkness of the room was driving me crazy. The sound of the storm outside was nerve racking. And the never ending thoughts that kept running through my head were going to kill me.

Stupid weather, please don't let it be storming tomorrow. Please let Riku come. I want to see him. I wish he wanted to see me as bad as I want to see him. I wish he felt the same way I feel about him period. It's not fair. I've never felt this way for anyone before. I wish I knew something, anything. I mean, is he even gay? I could ask Ventus, but would he know? And forget about asking Roxas, he'd just blow it way out of proportion. I'll ask Ventus, that's what I'll do. Not while Riku's here, later, after he leaves. If he even comes. Stupid weather, please don't let it be storming tomorrow.

And thus repeat.

I growled at myself as I glanced at the clock. 3:54 a.m. Fuck, I'll be too tired to do anything tomorrow at this rate. Rubbing my face with my hands, I decided the best route would be for me to just drug myself until I fall asleep. That's what every normal person does. I hoped out of bed, and silently opened my bedroom door. Straining to see in the dark, but failing miserably, I tip toed out into the hallway. There was no noise, everyone must be asleep I concluded. Then I continued to tip toe down the hall until I reached the bathroom. The nightlight, for Roxas , that was always plugged into the wall in the bathroom illuminated the first few steps down. I slowly took one at a time, not wanting to trip down them and break a leg, because that would really put a damper on things. Finally, I reached the bottom and was able to easily dash into the kitchen. I turned on the kitchen light and opened the cabinet above the sink. The medicine's dwelling place was becoming very familiar to me.

I took some SleepMD and downed a glass of water before I turned off the kitchen light and headed back to bed. Taking my slow sweet time back upstairs, as to not wake anyone up or hurt myself, I found myself back in my room at 4:19 a.m. Great. I laid back down and let the medicine kick in. The last thing I heard was a crack of thunder and I was out.

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The silky sheets beneath me were the softest thing I had ever felt. As my eyes slowly opened, I saw the huge, red canopy above me. I rose slightly to see that I was laying on a huge, circular bed, surrounded by darkness. The canopy above me creaked and moaned as I crawled out from under the red silk sheets and pulled my nightshirt closed. It was freezing in here. I put one foot on the ground and felt a horrible stinging pain, and then burning. Quickly, I looked down to see thousands of black snakes hissing and trying to bite me. Okay, so now I was scared. I pulled my foot back onto the bed and tried again. As I lowered my foot, another struck me. So I tried again, and another hit me. Again and again, until the burning had consumed my entire body.

I started to cry. I didn't know what to do, or where to go. Then I heard a voice telling me that I would be fine. The voice was so familiar, yet where did I know it from. "Don't be afraid." It said. I looked up to see a figure. I couldn't make out who it was, then there was a flash of silver hair, and instantly I felt safer. "I love you." The voice said. Mother?

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"Sora!"

Huh, what? "Sora! Get up, Riku is down stairs." Said the voice. My eyes opened briefly to see Ventus in my face. Then I closed them and tried to go back to sleep. "Sora! Come on, seriously. Riku is here." Said Ventus. Then my brain started to work. Riku is here? Oh no!

I rose quickly into a sitting position, grabbing my head as the drowsiness took its first hit. "Oh, I feel like crap. And I had the weirdest dream." I mumbled. "Well, you can tell me all about it after you get dressed and come down stairs. Riku is here by the way."

"Yeah I know." I replied, grumpily as he headed out of the room. He only said it about four hundred times.

My ears were ringing. Must have been that dream or the medicine, either one. I glanced at the clock. 12:03 p.m. Sighing, I hopped out of bed and headed towards the closet. I pulled out, and put on some navy blue sweat pants, and a white t-shirt with some black palm trees on it. I would have been better dressed, if I didn't feel so sleepy. Damn medicine, damn rain still hitting the roof, making my head start to hurt.

Rain! Oh no. I ran to the double doors that led to the balcony and pulled back the curtain. Sure enough it was still raining, and in the distance I could see flashes of lightening. Crap, this can't be happening. I had the perfect plan, the cave. Everything was going to be so perfect and then this happened. Sighing again, I moved away from the double doors and became nervous. Now what?

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A/n: Well there you go. Not very long, but it's a start. Hope to get another chapter out soon. So r/r please, let me know if anyone is still interested in reading it, and we'll see what happens. 3:03 a.m. here. Time for bed. Night.


	9. Being so attractive

Blood Runs Red

Chapter 9: Being so attractive

A/n: Hey guys, it's only been a few years. I'm sorry. I have no excuses and yes you can kill me. If you're even still reading this. I just kept putting this off and off and then next thing you know it's 2013. Wow. Um, if you are reading this please do go back and re-read the other chapters for I have redone them slightly. I mean you don't have to, you're not missing anything, but its probably been quite awhile since you read it last or you could just ignore this update and me and the story forever because I've made you wait so long. If no one reads this, that's okay. I understand.

by the way I don't own anything in this chapter. I don't own Kingdom Hearts, nor all those movies or Jensen Ackles (sadly)

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The rain continued to fall steadily on my bedroom roof, as I stood frozen against the balcony doors. What was I going to do now? I mean, I hadn't come up with a backup plan and now Riku was actually here and there was nothing on the agenda. Wait, Riku was here. What the hell was I still doing standing up here? I quickly made for the door, but backtracked to the bathroom to run the toothbrush around my mouth for a minute. Sure, I might not have any official plans for Riku and me today, but that didn't mean I was going to show up with morning breath.

Major turn off.

After brushing my teeth, I calmly walked into the hallway. From where I was currently standing, I could hear Roxas's voice and knew that this probably wasn't going to turn out the way I wanted it to at all. Sure, I wasn't going to get to show Riku the cave or the tiny island, but now I was going to have to maneuver around Roxas as well. Perfect, this was perfect. As I reached the top of the stairs came the recognizable booming laughter of the one and only Axel. Oh yes, my day had just gotten even better. Why does the world hate me?

I closed my eyes and headed down the stairs. After staying in the Strife residence for nearly a month and going up and down the stairs multiple times, I was becoming quite keen on how everything worked. Meaning I felt comfortable enough to go down the stairs with my eyes closed. "Nice of you to join us!" came Roxas's voice. "Riku has only been waiting an hour." Oh yes, I felt much better now, thank you Roxas. My eyes opened to see them all staring at me.

There was Roxas, leaning against Axel, who sat next to Terra on the coffee table. Ventus was standing behind Terra and Cloud along with that strange pink haired girl was seated on the couch next to Riku. My cheeks were burning and my mouth became dry.

I started to apologize. "S-Sorry Riku. I didn't mean to make you wait. I just-"

"No, it's okay." He interrupted me, "Cloud and Lightening was keeping us company until Roxas and Ventus woke up." By us, he meant the insufferable red head and Terra, I presumed. "Okay, okay, enough boring chatter. Let's talk about what we're going to do today," said Roxas. I moved to stand behind the couch, where Riku was sitting. Thanks to Roxas's outburst, all attention was back on him and I knew he enjoyed that. He continued, "Since it's storming outside that means no beach. Any suggestions?" Everyone was silent until Cloud suggested watching a movie. We all agreed that that was probably the best decision although I was still mad at the fact that Riku and I weren't going to get any alone time together.

I sighed, on the inside of course, as to not draw any unwanted stares and followed along with the idea. We all moved to the farthest wall in the living room that housed all the movies and began to sift through them. Before it was over with, we had a handful of movies to watch. Axel and Roxas both picked the My Bloody Valentine movie, Ventus had chosen Inception while Terra and Cloud stayed silent, and the pink haired girl supposedly named Lightening had picked Underworld. Riku decided on the classic horror film, The Shinning and I settled with Kick Ass.

Axel and Roxas were in charge of the snacks and headed off to the kitchen. Terra and Ventus went to gather up pillows and blankets to make the living room more comfortable and Cloud and Lightening had sort of just disappeared somewhere. Not that I was complaining, because now Riku and I were alone in the living room.

I smiled as he opened the My Bloody Valentine dvd case. We were in charge of fixing up the movie. He turned the TV on and slipped the dvd delicately into the player. "I don't think this movie is going to be any good." Riku stated. I almost jumped at the sound of his voice. He had been so quiet since I first entered the room I almost forgot what his voice sounded like. Almost.

"It's not that bad." I confessed, turning my back to him, "Jensen Ackles is what really makes the movie of course, being so attractive and all." My eyes widened. I couldn't believe what had just slipped out of my mouth. I had just called another man attractive in front of Riku. If that was a confession of being gay, what was? I was so scared to look at him. What if I looked and his face was full of disgust. And he turned away from me, disgusted at finding out that his new friend was a homosexual. Maybe I was overthinking this. Riku hadn't said anything and even though it had only been a few seconds it felt like hours. I squeezed my eyes shut and willed myself to turn around. Then he chuckled. I opened my eyes to see that he was still busy trying to figure out the remote to the TV. "That's true. He is pretty good looking." Riku confirmed.

Either I was hearing wrong or I was going insane. Riku had just said that this guy was good looking too. But that didn't mean he was gay. He was just stating the obvious. Or he was just trying to make me feel better. I scanned him over quickly. He didn't seem to be mad or freaked out at the fact that I just admitted that another guy was attractive. Maybe I was overthinking this.

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Still, when it came time to watch the movie, I sat as far away from Riku as I possibly could without making it obvious. After a few rounds of rock paper scissors, something Riku was a champ at, we won the couch and everybody had to sit on the floor. Or at least until this movie went off. My mind couldn't really focus on the movie and I kept peering back over to Riku. Thanks to the storm outside the room was quite dark, besides the light emitted from the TV, which meant that he wouldn't notice. He was quite interested in the movie. His eyes were big and he slowly ate his popcorn without even noticing my eyes on him.

I shifted my gaze back to the movie. Then down to floor where Ventus and Terra laid. They were close to each other. Very close. I envied them. Then I looked back to Riku who was looking at me. I quickly looked away, embarrassed, but I know that only made it worse. I cursed myself for being so dumb. There was no way I was going to look back in Riku's general direction now. So I settled on watching the screen intently. Even though I wasn't interested in the movie at all. I pouted slightly and grabbed some twizzlers off the table.

I chewed slowly on the cherry flavored candy and waited patiently for Jensen Ackles to show back up in a scene. Could you tell that I had a crush on Jensen? Riku could. I all but flat out said it to him. Then right when the lady was about to figure out who was doing all the killings there was a bright flash from outside. It startled me and I jumped, as did Ventus. There were a few moments of silence and then a huge boom that rattled the house, followed by a rather loud crackling sound. Then we were plunged into darkness

At first, I was at a loss as to what had happened. "Ahh come on. Really?" asked Axel in a loud voice. "Power's out. Looks like movie night is officially over." Said Cloud rather smoothly. The couch shifted and I felt Riku move closer to me. Or I was just imaging things. It was too dark to tell anways.

I heard some giggling then a small click and a corner of the room lite up with light. "Flashlight." Said Roxas. "Now what do we do?" asked Axel, " it's not like I'm leaving in this and my movie is off. I'm bored already." Of course you are Axel. Of course you are. "What can we do in the dark, Axel?" asked Terra. This was what, the third time Terra had spoke in front of me. I still wasn't used to his voice.

"How about hide and seek?" Came another voice from the opposite side of the room. Lightening. I was starting to get confused on who was talking now. It seemed the dark helped the non-speakers speak. "That's a perfect idea!" squealed Roxas, "We'll play hide and seek. And I'll be 'it' first." Everything happened so quickly that I didn't really know what was going on.

I mean really didn't want to play hide and go seek. I just wanted to sit next to Riku and stare at his face. Was that too much to ask?

"I'll count to one hundred and then I'll come find you guys." Explained Roxas. He flipped the flashlight off and started to count. "1…2…3…" There was a bunch of shuffling as everybody moved to get up at the same time. Except me. I was still lost on how far today was turning out not like I had planned it. At all.

Then I heard Axel say something to Roxas quietly. It sounded like he said I'm very proud of you, but that didn't make any sense. Or maybe it did. Roxas had always been afraid of the dark ever since that night. And here he was willing to run around the house in the pitch black alone. Maybe I didn't give Axel as much credit as he deserved.

I was thrown out of my thoughts when a hand grabbed mine, pulling me off the couch. "Come on, we'll hide together." Whispered Riku as he continued to pull me in the direction towards the stairs. I wasn't sure if I liked this idea to much but everything sorta got blocked out as I felt Riku's hand still holding mine. I was glad for the intensity of the darkness again, for I know my face was beet red.

Maybe I was going to get to spend some alone time with Riku after all.

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A/n: if you did actually read this then I love you and please review that way I know that someone is still interested in my mess. Thank you lovelies and you guys can leave me hate mail if you want.

Peace out.


	10. The closet

Blood Runs Red

Chapter 10: The closet

A/n: Spring break forever bitches! So yes, I am on spring break and instead of writing my psychology paper I decided to add another chapter to my story. I hope you guys enjoy, it's starting to get late and I'm tired so it may be alittle choppy and my sleep deprived mind may think that it is the best I've ever written. My condolences.

I own nothing.

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"10…11…12…" Roxas continued as Riku pulled me out of the living room and slowly up the stairs. I stumbled blindly over the steps, but not because of the darkness of the area, but because Riku was still holding onto my hand. And he wasn't barely holding my hand, he was tightly holding my hand. I instantly became nervous and I knew that that was only going to make my hand sweaty. Therefore, I breathed, slowly, in and out as we finally made it to the top of the stairs. I don't think it was working.

There were still loud thuds as people moved throughout the house to hide. "Where should we hide?" I asked quietly. "Definitely not in your room because that would be too obvious." He replied. That was true, so I racked my brain for another place. "There's a guest bedroom across from Cloud's room on the right. " I suggested. "Good spot as any." Riku confirmed. We tiptoed down the hall and Riku, thankfully, let go of my hand to open the door. I went in first and he followed.

Then he shut the door behind him. Butterflies began to rumble in my tummy and my hands became clammy. Stop getting so flustered, I thought. He only shut the door to make it look like no one came in here, not to make out with you. At the thought I had a wave of pleasure run down my body. I really need to stop this.

"The closet." Came Riku's voice out of the darkness. "What?" I asked confused. I mean wasn't this good enough? It was so dark in the room someone could open the door and never even notice us. They would have to have a flashlight to see us, like the one that Roxas conveniently had. Well darn. "Nevermind, closet it is." I said.

We then commenced to looking for the closet. It had been quite some time since I had been in this room and could not remember where everything was located. After a good few minutes, we were able to map out the room. Not without a few bumps and curse words along the way of course. The bed lay against the farthest wall, across from the door, which also happened to have a window above it. The flashes of lightening from outside revealed the small dresser that sat next to it on the left and held a lamp and other miscellaneous objects. The closet was on that wall and the TV and a few shelves sat on the other.

I grabbed the knob to the closet and opened the door. Nothing hung on the racks and the closet was empty. A good thing because the closet wasn't huge. We crammed ourselves into the small space and managed to shut the door. The one thing I hated most about hiding go seek was the waiting. You had to wait for the person who was 'it' to come find you and there was never telling how long that could take. But today that was a different story.

I couldn't ask to be anymore alone with Riku than I was right now. The only issue was the awkward silence, which seemed to be ear piercing silent. I cleared my throat, as quietly as I could so that Roxas couldn't hear me but also loud enough for Riku to notice. And he did because then he asked, "Afraid of the dark?" As I was not ready for the question, I forgot momentarily how to speak. "I take your silence as a yes then." He said with the hint of laughter in his voice.

"I'm not afraid of the dark!" I mocked yelled, but in a whisper. "There are many things that I am afraid of but the dark is not one of them." "Then what are you afraid of?" Riku probed. I know that he wasn't trying to get into some deep conversation in a closet, in the dark, during a game of hide and seek. But I let that go because Riku was talking to me and not just talking but actually trying to learn something about me. "I don't know." I stalled. "My father for one." "Why?" he asked, concern in his voice.

"There are too many reasons. Reasons that I can't even explain. But let's just say that I did something that my father isn't too proud of and he enjoys taking it out on me." I explained vaguely. I liked Riku. Even if he wasn't gay, that didn't mean I felt comfortable enough to explain to him that my father beat me because I was gay. That would be a little too much information. There was a long silence, and I knew that I had gotten very serious and I wasn't sure that Riku was expecting that.

After a while his whispered voice filled the air, "You sound like you deal with some pretty rough stuff at home. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to invade." He somehow managed to find my hand in the darkness and put his over it. I became flustered. "No, no it's okay. Most people wouldn't even have bothered with asking, so the fact that you are concerned makes me feel better. Reminds me that people still care."

I turned away from his direction. My eyes were watering and I was not going to cry. I was not dammit. He was quiet again and I felt like I was letting too much slip every time I opened my mouth but I couldn't help it. I just wanted to talk to someone but I wasn't sure if I could trust Riku yet with this kind of news. "If you ever need anything, you can talk to me. Or you know, whatever you need. I'm your friend, I want to help you Sora." He expressed.

There was the sound of the floor creaking as he leaned closer to me. I turned towards him and stared hard into the dark. There was his outline but I couldn't see his face. I wasn't able to tell if he was being truthful or just saying that out of pity. Then his hand touched my face and I jumped. That had to have been an accident. No, because his hand was still there, laying lightly on my cheek. My breath hitched in my throat.

"I'll help you Sora." God, I loved it when he said my name. I could feel him lean closer to me and now he was so close his breath hit my face. My heart was pounding. All thoughts were erased from my mind. His thumb graced my lip. And then again. "Sora." He whispered one last time before he leaned all the way in and kissed me.

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A/n: Yes I'm evil, I know. But in this world I control everything. Now back to reality where everything sucks. Please review though ;D

Peace out darlings.


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